What if Edward Gorey illustrated Lovecraft?

· by · in Lovecraftian Art. ·

Edward Gorey is one of my favorite artists (A is for Amy, anyone?). But what if Gorey had illustrated Lovecraft’s stories, or had created artwork with cosmic horror themes?

John Kenn Mortensen is an artist from Denmark whose work is very much reminiscent of Edward Gorey, and I spent some time recently looking at every single illustration at his website.  I selected the ones that I felt were Lovecraftian and I’ve posted them below.

These represent only a small percentage of his work, though.  Visit his Instagram page to view more, or better yet, buy his art book.

🎧 (Click here to listen to The Lovecraft eZine Podcast — we discuss cosmic horror books, movies, games, and more! It’s a horror podcast that feels like hanging out with friends.) 🎧

Visit his Instagram page to view more, or better yet, buy his art book.

32 responses to “What if Edward Gorey illustrated Lovecraft?”

  3. Oh I do I do I do want him to illustrate Lovecraft or anything else. His own work is wonderful. Love that style.

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  5. Yes Humots, and I do, too. Ann so kindly offered this information for the completionists among us:

    “In the anthology Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural (http://www.amazon.com/Hauntings-Tales-Supernatural-Henry-Mazzeo/dp/038509373X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396826054&sr=1-1&keywords=hauntings%3A+tales+of+the+supernatural&tag=u1webapp-20) the Lovecraft story “In the Vault” has three Gorey illustrations (as do all the stories in the book). This is the only work Gorey did on a Lovecraft story that I’m aware of.”
    Thank you Ann!

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  6. I loved Edward Gorey’s work, and I really like this. Besides Gorey, some of the art reminds me of Sidney Sime, who illustrated Dunsany’s work.

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  7. This is great stuff! I actually searched up Edward Gorey, found this, and was intrigued. Now I know where it came from.Thanks so much for sharing these! John Mortenson is a great artist! You guys should try and work together on something in your store, or a cover for your magazine…

    BRIAN

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  22. Very cool, very very creepy. It should be said though that this is not merely an Edward Gorey influence. The other parent of this twisted hybrid is the amazing Gahan Wilson. You can see it in the weird, floppy forms of the creatures, their overwide mouth and disturbing teeth. If you don’t know who I’m referring to, go search for his images RIGHT NOW.

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  24. Thanks so much for introducing me to this wonderful artist. My favorite is the one with the giant (deer-people?) walking through the fog to the cabin in the woods. Out of all the beasties shown here, those ones look the friendliest (or the least likely to kill you, anyway).

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  25. Oh! I love the one with the big flowers over the RV! And the one with the little black heads bobbing out of the water around the dock!

    Seriously, this looks like a cross between Edward Gorey and Hideshi Hino (who everyone should look up).

    Lovely!

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  27. Wowza!! It’s like “what if Edward Gorey was darker and even more sinister?” I really like this guy’s work, thank you for turning me on to him. As a long-time Goreyhead (B is for Basil!) I really appreciate the inkwork. Ordering the book asap!

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  31. I’ve been following John Kenn for a few years now. Great stuff! I really want to buy his book! The amazing thing is that all of these are done on Post-It notes!

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