Is the final portrait that Thurber describes intended to be of the same sort of being depicted in the other paintings, or is it a different variety? The text describes it as “colossal,” and seems to imply that it is significantly larger than a human being, whereas the figures in the other paintings are not presented as especially large. Yet the other details-- the half-cloven feet, the dog-like features-- seem to indicate that it is closely akin to the other figures.
The canvas itself is huge, so it could just be the size of the image that Thurber is alluding to. Yet he had just viewed an entire series of such depictions, so it seems strange that he would be so profoundly affected by a more or less identical subject.
Was this final creature a sport, or did it represent the final stage that the others were devolving to? Or was it the same as the other creatures, and the distinction of the final picture merely one of technique?
Just curious as to how others have envisioned that final scene. I always imagined the final creature as freakishly large compared to the others, perhaps a different (though related) species entirely.
To those of you who aren’t geeky enough (and have a relevant name), this is about an H.P. Lovecraft story.
It doesn’t really seem strange to me, Thurber is horrified by the fact that the creatures exist, as he is looking at a photograph. Combine this with Lovecraft’s propensity to make easily horrified protagonists to explain the ending.
Now that we have Photoshop, this story seems quite dated.
Sorry for not being clearer. I meant his reaction when he first sees the canvas itself. He screams twice during the tour: once in Pickman’s gallery depicting the creatures in a modern setting, and then once again when he sees the final canvas. Unlike the earlier paintings, the final creature is confronting the viewer directly, so that likely accounts for at least part of the reaction, I suppose.
Gee, when I saw the thread title, I thought it would be a discussion of the “Night Gallery” episode. So, was the episode faithful to the Lovecraft story?
(Incidentally, that is one of my favorite “Night Gallery” episodes.)
This is the direct demonization, temporal ennui, and viscerality of the cannibal cult of the 20’s . This had more teeth as the Guineas and Amazon were discovered in Lovecraft’s time.
Regardless, this is a truly creepy documentation. This is the National Geographer’s Polaroid.
Well, it is a Lovecraft story, so it doesn’t really lend itself well to careful analysis.
That being said, however, I think the creature was more devolved (if that’s the right word) than many of the others, but still the same basic type. However, the final reveal is that the photograph of the critter was taken in that same basement, so considering the size of construction in the seventeenth century the thing couldn’t have been much larger than man-size or it wouldn’t have fit in the basement in the first place.
So I’d say that Pickman took a photo of the thing and painted it larger for artistic effect. Thurber was especially horrified because it was so large and so realistic.
I always assumed it was the same thing as the others, but possibly a larger canvas. If there had been more to it, I think he would have said so.
It’s closer than most adaptations are to the original, but the story disguises the original setting – Lovecraft set the story in a very recognizable Boston North End. I was telling some relatives about it when we toured the North End a couple of weeks ago, and were standing atop Copp’s Hill, which is one of the sites mentioned in the story. The Night Gallery Episode takes place in a never-identified city.
Also, the NG story veers from the original ending, stealing much from Lovecraft’s story “A Shadow Over Innsmouth” (Which has recently been filmed as “Dagon”).
My personal opinion is that the real painting that he saw depicted a huge yellow creature, almost all Mouth. But the editors unaccountably changed the title from the original:
Now I regret not having seen the Night Gallery episode… at least to my recollection. Perhaps the horror of it seared the event from my waking mind. But now you’ve got me curious to find out how Pickman’s works were represented in that episode. A quick image search turns up a vaguely Yeti-looking fellow, presumably of the ghoul from the final canvas, as well as one other painting, but surely there must have been others. Were they painted by the same guy who produced the gallery paintings for the show? IMDb lists Thomas J. Wright as the likely culprit.
*Bradford Dillman * as Richard Upton Pickman?! That’s the '70s for you, I guess…
There was one more painting, IIRC, that highlighted the “Shadow Over Innsmouth” aspect of the episode, showing a younf Pickma with an odd expression on his face standing beside his family, with a shadowy “ghoul” behind him (in some ways resembling one of the painting Lovecraft describes in his story), but a quick search online fails to find it.
I have some reepublished Lovecraft from the 80’s. I don’t remember the publishing house, but the covers of these compilations all featured truly iconic cover art. Pickman’s model was prominently featured on the cover of that collection.
Anydody know what series this was? The artwork and ochres of Lovecraft (a collective noun, as in an ochre (collection) of Lovecraft stories.) were coherent and macabre.
I remember owning a sort of Lovecraft field guide that had paintings of all the various critters. Wish I could remember the name, but the ghoul in it was pretty monsterous, but still humanish, which made it worse.
As for the size of the final painting, I just assumed the others were small portraits and the final one was life-size head to toe(s).
I suspect it was Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials – a picture book of lots of sf/fantasy creatures (not just Lovecraft). IIRC, it featured one of the ghouls from PM. Not approved by Lovecraft’s estate, of course, which means that the pic is just Barlowe’s idea of what they looked like, based on the description in the book:
Nope. I have the book and no ghoul. The only Lovecraft creature is an Old One. I know Barlowe’s Guide To Fantasy features a Gug and may have a Ghoul. I suspect the book in question is one put out by Chaosium and soley on Mythos creatures.
The Visitor’s Guide To Transylvania re-uses a lot of Lovecraft art and has picture of a Ghoul, drawn huge, threatening Pickman’s house. The text identifies the picture as a demon threatening some reverend.
By the by, ghouls are real. They have now been nearly exterminated (for more on that read the classic Weird Tale “Far Below”). Some still survive in ancient caverns, untouched by sun and time. Their changelings are far more numerous. They dwell in large cities, where no one really loooks at strangers anyway. Think I’m kidding? Would you notice if the fellow on the train with the overly loud iPod had rubbery, canine features? You would not. Your mind shuts him out as another unpleasant distraction and moves on. The hybrid spawn of the Deep Ones also thrive in large cities. New York has the largest population of hybrids ever known on this earth. To be sure, they stink. But one expects such things of strangers on a subway.
Go ahead, laugh at this post. Dismiss me. But I know. I have seen and I know. Man came late and will not remain long. The Old Ones were. The Old Ones are. The Old Ones will yet be.
devilsknew, you’re not thinking of the Ballantine paperback reprints by any chance? They all featured cover art that collectively formed a diptych by Michael Whelan: Lovecraft’s Nightmare 1 and Lovecraft’s Nightmare 2. Though these images don’t show it clearly, the face revealed in the window is that of a ghoul.
Love Rhombus, your book was almost certainly Petersen’s Guide to Cthulhu Monsters. As DocCathode suspected, it was indeed published by Chaosium, although I don’t think it was an actual game supplement-- more like a way to drum up interest for their “Call of Cthulhu” RPG. I seem to recall that it had mock endnotes and everything. I may even have a copy myself somewhere, buried deep in the lower strata. Interesting that it appears to be fairly collectible now.
