One criticism that the cartoons in the New Yorker have often received is that they are too subtle, with obscure references. There are some Charles Addams cartoons which have taken me several moments to discover there meaning. One is a captionless cartoon of three butchers behind a meat counter. They are reaching and struggling to hang a long, long string of sausages onto hooks above them. It suddenly occurred to me that the grouping looked similar to the sculpture of Laocoon and his sons in the Vatican. Addams was always particularly happy with his captionless cartoons which forced the viewer to become more engaged with the art. I usually enjoy the challenge; but one Addams cartoon continues to puzzle me.Addams' cartoon of a fairly typical New York City (or is that the Chicago Sun newspaper?)
newsstand continues to allude me. The street appears unusually clean and empty of possible customers. Is it very late? Some of the magazine titles seem outdated. (St. Nicholas Magazine stopped publication in 1941; but this could be an older Addams work. His first published work in the New Yorker was a spot illustration in it's February 6, 1932 issue) The stand is neat, except for the scruffy attendant, leaning a bit to the side. I don't think any of those things are the main idea behind this scene. Maybe, what's that dark spot on his hat? Is it a bullet hole? Has he been shot in the head? The grumpy looking guy is still staring out intensely, appearing about as alive and normal as he usually does. Is that why no one has noticed that something seems odd and everyone has left him alone, far into the deserted night? The cartoon is almost entirely made up of vertical and horizontal lines and shapes. The place with a strong diagonal, that has a lot of tonal contrast, is the arm of the man. This angle points up toward the face and hat. Addams wants you to look there. Does anyone have any other ideas?Both cartoons are from the book, Chas Addams Favorite Haunts, Simon and Schuster 1976.
3 comments:
I needed it explained to me, too, but in my case, it *eluded* me :-D
I've been tortured by homophones and near homophones lately, too.
You came close to the answer about the newsstand cartoon. All the periodicals were defunct at the time. Life magazine had ceased weekly publication in 1972, which gives some idea of this cartoon's vintage. The vendor's apron with "The Sun" logo refers to the original NY newspaper which had ceased in 1950, no relationship other than name with the one that launched in 2002. In other words, this is a ghost story, a frequent Addams theme.
I always figured that in the first one, the sausage had come to life, and the butcher's were struggling with it - typical Addams. The second has been driving me nuts for decades - and one of the explanations here satisfy. I even started my own thread at facebook recently. I hope someone figures it out!
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