"Pickman's Model"

Author	H. P. Lovecraft
Country	USA
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror short story
Released in	Weird Tales
Media Type	Magazine
Released	October, 1927

"Pickman's Model" is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, written in September 1926 and first published in the October 1927 issue of Weird Tales. It was adapted for television in 1972 as an episode of the Night Gallery anthology series. Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the reader. ... This article is in need of attention. ... This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ... See also: 1925 in literature, other events of 1926, 1927 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1926 in literature, other events of 1927, 1928 in literature, list of years in literature. ... This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Night Gallery was Rod Serlings follow-up to The Twilight Zone, airing on NBC from 1970 to 1973. ...

Inspiration

Pickman's aesthetic principles of horror resemble those in Lovecraft's essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1925-27), which he was working on at the time the short story was composed.^[1] When Thurber notes that "only the real artist knows the actual anatomy of the terrible or the physiology of fear--the exact sort of lines and proportions that connect up with latent instincts or hereditary memories of fright, and the proper colour contrasts and lighting effects to stir the dormant sense of strangeness," he is echoing Lovecraft the literary critic on Poe, who "understood so perfectly the very mechanics and physiology of fear and strangeness".^[2] Supernatural Horror in Literature is a collection of essays written in 1927 and added to between 1933 and 1935 by the famed fantasy and horror author H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ...

Thurber's description of Pickman as a "thorough, painstaking, and almost scientific realist" recalls Lovecraft's approach to horror in his post-Dunsanian phase.^[3] Best known as Lord Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (July 24, 1878–October 25, 1957) was an Irish writer and dramatist notable for his work in fantasy and horror. ...

The story compares Pickman's work to that of a number of actual artists, including John Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), Gustave Doré (1832-1883), Sidney Sime (1867-1941), Anthony Angarola (1893-1929), Francisco Goya (1746-1828), and Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961). Henry Fuseli (in German Johann Heinrich Füssli) (February 7, 1741 - April 16, 1825) was a British painter and writer on art, of German-Swiss family. ... Doré photographed by Felix Nadar. ... Sidney Sime (1867 – May 22, 1941) was born in Manchester in poverty. ... Anthony Angarola (1893-1929[1]) was an American painter[2] and art instructor. ... Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 – April 16, 1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker. ... Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893-August 14, 1961) was a poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. ...

Reaction

Fritz Leiber, in his essay "A Literary Copernicus", praised the story for the "supreme chill" of its final line.^[4] Peter Cannon calls the tale "a well-nigh perfect example of Poe's unity of effect principle", though he cites as its "one weakness" the "contrived ending".^[5] An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia dismisses the story as "relatively conventional".^[6] Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia is a reference work written by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. ...

Synopsis

The story revolves around a Bostonian painter named Richard Upton Pickman who creates horrifying images. His works are brilliantly executed, but so graphic that they result in him being kicked out of the college he is attending and shunned by his fellow artists. Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ...

The narrator is a friend of Pickman, who, after the artist's mysterious disappearance, relates to another acquaintance how he was taken on a tour of Pickman's personal gallery, hidden away in a run-down backwater slum of the city. As the two delved deeper into Pickman's mind and art, the rooms seemed to grow ever more evil and the paintings ever more horrific, ending with a final enormous painting of a red-eyed monster balefully chewing on a human victim. A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ...

A noise sent Pickman running outside the room with a gun while the narrator reached out to unfold what looked like a small piece of rolled paper attached to the monstrous painting. The narrator heard some shots and Pickman walked back in with the smoking gun, telling a story of shooting some rats, and the two men departed. This is an article about wild rats; for pet rats, see Fancy rat Species 50 species; see text *Several subfamilies of Muroids include animals called rats. ...

Afterwards the narrator realized that he had nervously grabbed and put the rolled paper in his pocket when the shots were fired. He unrolled the paper to reveal that it is the same image as the painting, only it was a photograph. Pickman drew his inspirations not from a diseased imagination, but from real life.

Characters

Richard Upton Pickman

Pickman is depicted as a renowned Boston painter notorious for his ghoulish works. His great-great-great-great-grandmother was hanged by Cotton Mather during the Salem witch trials of 1692. ("Pickman" and "Upton" are, in actuality, old Salem names.^[7]) In 1926, Pickman vanished from his home--a date only given in Lovecraft's "History of the Necronomicon". Pickman reappears as a ghoul in The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926) and aids Randolph Carter in his journeys. Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... Painting by Rembrandt self-portrait Detail from Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, in which the painter portrayed himself at work For the computer graphics program, see Corel Painter. ... Cotton Mather (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728). ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... The iconic ghoul from Dungeons & Dragons. ... The Dream Quest of Unkown Kadath is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, published in 1926, part of his dream cycle. ... See also: 1925 in literature, other events of 1926, 1927 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Randolph Carter is a frequently-occurring protagonist in Lovecrafts Dream-cycle works. ...

Lovecraft scholar Robert M. Price writes, "Dream-Quest's Pickman surely bears little relationship to the character of the same name we met in 'Pickman's Model', though he is ostensibly the same person." He suggests that the portrayal of Pickman in Dream-Quest is influenced by the character of Tars Tarkas in Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars.^[8] Robert McNair Price was born July 7, 1954 in Mississippi and is a Professor of Theology and Scriptural Studies. ... Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan, although he also produced works in many genres. ... A Princess of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the first of his famous Barsoom series. ...

Thurber

The narrator, who gets to know Pickman while working on "a monograph about weird art", describes himself as "fairly 'hard-boiled,'" as well as "middle-aged and decently sophisticated". He is apparently a World War I veteran: "I guess you saw enough of me in France to know I'm not easily knocked out."

Given this description, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia finds Thurber's horror at Pickman's paintings "implausible...strained and hysterical".^[9]

Thurber is one of several Lovecraft characters to develop a phobia as a result of his horrific experiences;^[10] his fear of subways and other underground spaces resembles that of the narrator of "The Lurking Fear", who "cannot see a well or a subway entrance without shuddering". A phobia (from the Greek φόβος fear), an irrational, persistent fear of certain situations, objects, activities, or persons. ... The Lurking Fear is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft in the horror fiction genre. ...

Setting

Like the Brooklyn neighborhood portrayed in Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red Hook", Boston's North End is depicted as a rundown section inhabited by immigrants and honeycombed by subterranean passageways. Pickman declares: The Horror at Red Hook is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ...

What do maps and records and guide-books really tell of the North End? Bah! At a guess I'll guarantee to lead you to thirty or forty alleys and networks of alleys north of Prince Street that aren't suspected by ten living beings outside of the foreigners that swarm them.

Prince Street, like Henchman Street, Charter Street, and Greenough Lane, are actual North End streets. Though the story is vague about the precise location of Pickman's studio, it was apparently inspired by an actual North End building. Lovecraft wrote that when he visited the neighborhood with Donald Wandrei, he found "the actual alley & house of the tale utterly demolished, a whole crooked line of buildings having been torn down."^[11]

Media adaptation

In 1972, the television show Night Gallery adapted "Pickman's Model" as a segment. In the TV version, the character of the narrator in the short story becomes a woman (Louise Sorel) who has fallen in love with Pickman (Bradford Dillman). Night Gallery was Rod Serlings follow-up to The Twilight Zone, airing on NBC from 1970 to 1973. ... Louise Sorel Louise Sorel (born August 6, 1940 in New York City) is best known as villainess Vivian Alamain on the NBC daytime serial, Days of Our Lives. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

In 1981, Austinite Cathy Welch created a short, thirty minute version of the story. The basic story was preserved, with the tale of Thurber's night at Pickman's being relayed by him to his skeptical girlfriend.

The Chilean horror movie "Chilean Gothic" (2000) is loosely based on "Pickman's Model", where a private detective searches for Pickman in the Island of Chiloe in the south of Chile, where the mythology is full of monsters and grotesque creatures.

Connections

• One of the sponsors of the expedition in At the Mountains of Madness (1936) is the Nathaniel Derby Pickman Foundation.

• The motif of a character emptying all six bullets from a revolver also appears in "Herbert West--Reanimator" and "The Thing on the Doorstep".^[12]

• Mrs. Pickman is the name of the Hobbs End hotel proprietor in John Carpenter's Lovecraftian tribute film In the Mouth of Madness.

• The title of Joanna Russ' short story "I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket...But by God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life!”, reprinted in the anthology Cthulhu 2000, is a quotation from "Pickman's Model".

• "Pickman's Modem" is a very short tale of an evil computer that plays on the original title more than the plot, also appearing in Cthulhu 2000.

• In Alan Moore's The Courtyard the Aklo dealer offers the protagonist some of a collection of pictures comprising Pickman's Necroticia and has a print of his work at his house.

At the Mountains of Madness is a novella by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. ... See also: 1935 in literature, other events of 1936, 1937 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Herbert West—Reanimator is a short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written between October 1921 and June 1922. ... The Thing on the Doorstep is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. ... Hobbs End is the name of a fictional location used in several works of speculative fiction. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... In the Mouth of Madness (also known as John Carpenters In the Mouth of Madness) is a 1995 horror film (originally intended for a 1994 release) directed by John Carpenter and written by Michael de Luca, who was at the time in charge of New Line Cinema. ... A Cthulhu Mythos anthology is a type of short story collection that contains stories written in or related to the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction launched by H. P. Lovecraft. ... Alan Moores The Courtyard is a 2003 comic book adaptation of a 1994 prose story written by Alan Moore. ...

References

• Lovecraft, Howard P. [1927] (1984). "Pickman's Model", in S. T. Joshi (ed.): The Dunwich Horror and Others, 9th corrected printing, Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-037-8.  Definitive version.

• Lovecraft, Howard P. [1927] (1999). "Pickman's Model", in S. T. Joshi and Peter Cannon (eds.): More Annotated Lovecraft, 1st, New York City, NY: Dell. ISBN 0-440-50875-4.  With explanatory footnotes.

• S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia.

Notes

1. ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 205.
2. ^ H. P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature".
3. ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 205.
4. ^ Lovecraft Remembered, p. 461; cited in Joshi and Cannon, p. 239.
5. ^ Joshi and Cannon, p. 8.
6. ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 205.
7. ^ Joshi and Cannon, p. 219.
8. ^ [[Robert M. Price, "Randolph Carter, Warlord of Mars", Black Forbidden Things, pp. 66-67.
9. ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 205.
10. ^ Joshi and Cannon, p. 219.
11. ^ H. P. Lovecraft, letter to Lillian D. Clark, July 17, 1927; cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 205. See also H. P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters Vol. IV pp. 385-386, cited in Joshi and Cannon, p. 218.
12. ^ Joshi and Cannon, p. 237.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Pickman's Model

• The Sidney Sime Page
• An Historical Overview of the North End