On Originality - Part 4: the theory of six.
If you can find six things that you like about something, chances are it's original.
It’s a theory, my theory. And we’re going to test it out right now.
To start with, we have to choose something, not just anything but something you really love.
I love Charles Addams’ gothic scenarios, encountered, unsurprisingly, in The New Yorker. As Halloween is approaching (too soon?), this Addams cartoon seemed like a good guinea pig:
Addams published his first cartoon in The New Yorker on 6 February 1932. He was 20 years old. Possibly his most famous cartoon (or “gag” as they called them back then) is Downhill Skier, published on January 13, 1940.
Addams had a penchant for the uncanny. Read about his life, partners and mansions and you will find it all of a piece. That’s an originality that’s innate. A An excellent biography of Charles Addams can be found on the Lambiek website: here.
Let’s get to it: Six things I love about this Charles Addams cartoon.
Addams extraordinary character aside, let’s see if there are things about his drawing style and interpretation or treatment of a subject that contribute to what we recognize as his originality.
The scene is a cast of imaginary characters approaching New York City on Halloween night, presumably to join the not-imaginary, regular folk “dressed up” for the trick or treating. The cartoon appeared in the Weekend Section of the New York Times published on October 26th, 1984 in advance of Halloween.
Charles Addams’ drawing style is as distinctive as the sinister family he invented (you might know them from The Addams Family TV series and movies) and the general spookiness of his other cartoons. The murky shadows of the New York City skyline are a lovely example of controlled ink wash and give the city a foreboding, gloomy character.
Grandmama Addams is the family patriarch Gomez’s mother (Gomez is on the left, rowing his own boat, as any narcissistic millionaire must) and also a witch, hence her wave to the Halloween witch leading the procession.
Water is hard to draw. The trick is not to try to render it realistically but to find a mark or symbol that captures the type of water it is, whether quiet, moving, or turbulent. Addams dispatches the water with confident, traditional little caps, letting the thick-thin of the pen do the talking.
The Owl and the Pussycat are whimsically unlikely members of the otherwise macabre party. I love Pussycat’s determination, and Owl’s bewilderment, like, “Whaaat are we doing here!?”
First Nations (or Indians as our indigenous friends were called until quite recently) are also unlikely figures until you consider that Halloween costumes in those days routinely included many popular tropes like cowboys and hobos as well as witches and ghosts.
Uncle Fester piloting a sub is funny enough but to put a windup key on the sub is the kind of wit that makes Addams an outstanding cartoonist.
Is this helpful?
Does the Theory of Six work for you? I’d suggest you try it out for yourself. Take a piece of art you really love and make a list of things you like about it. You might not get to six or you might end up with more than six. The idea really is just to pay attention and practice your looking skills. Post a comment or message me about your results if you like.
There’s always more to things when you take time to really look at them. For example, I just now noticed the different styles of boats in the Addams cartoon: barge, row boat, canoe, sub, and then there’s Ogopogo. Different boats for “different” folks.
Post-script: is there a theory of Originality?
It occurred to me this past week that there is probably academic research into originality. I quickly learned there is in fact a whole “theory of originality”. Here’s just one example of how the smarty pantses out there are spending their time, and probably quite a lot of your tax dollars:
THE CONCEPT OF ORIGINALITY: ITS MEANING, HISTORY, AND ROLE IN THEORIES OF ART, a PHD dissertation by RAVID ROVNER, University of Haifa. (2022)
You can download all 286 pages of it for $41 CDN here.
I’m looking forward to wading into it if summer will ever be over and we can get back to snuggling up by the fire with a good book. At some point, I’ll let you know what Mr. Rovner has to say. I doubt I’ll find anything in it that is actually about how to be original, but you never know.
As noted in a previous post, intellectuals, artists and the like are pretty sceptical towards any discussion of originality. Addams is a good example why; he’s a native talent. But then again, he also worked hard to develop his technique, range of subject matter and characters.
Perhaps the concern is that self-consciousness might lead to falsely affected originality which might spoil the whole thing, which of course it might very well. Yet Addams immersed himself in the things he was inclined towards, living a life very like the characters he created. According to his wishes his ashes were interred in the pet cemetery on the grounds of his mansion. Self-consciousness worked extraordinarily well for him in life, and even after.
So, until next time, be original, or if you can’t be original, be yourself (same diff.)