Victorian Parlor: A Tribute to Edward Gorey

Tonight's piece isn't really a "collage-a-day" effort, because I worked on it over several evenings during the past week (including hours of damage control when I pasted down the old lady in the wrong position.) But I knew how I wanted it to look, and I searched for the images relentlessly until I found what I wanted. I conceived it as another tribute to the great Edward Gorey, so it had to be the visual equivalent of le mot just. I can't say I entirely brought it off. I've discovered the fun in tweaking scanned collages in Photoshop, to offer as art prints or cards, so I'll take this one along that route too.  I've not included a caption with the picture, as EG usually would do in his work, though I may add it later. Here is the narrative:  "As Violet sat in her Aunt Letitia's parlor, patiently waiting for some sign of interest from her shy suitor, she suddenly noticed that a most handsome ecorché had appeared in the room..."

Almost all the images came from various Dover books, including Aunt Letitia, who I took from Gustav Dore's virtuoso illustrations for Orlando Furioso. The creepy little child came from Itkupilli.  

Ecorché is a word I first encountered in a Gorey piece. It's a pretty way to say "a cadaver flayed to show the musculature." Of course, the one in my collage is not a cadaver, but most likely alive, and Violet appears to be interested. What could possibly go wrong?