Pickman's Model
H.P. Lovecraft may be the most overrated horror writer in the world next to Scott Smith (who is overrated only in that he was able to publish such a horrible book as The Ruins). Lovecraft breaks so many of the rules of contemporary writing that I don’t believe he would be published in today’s marketplace.
He has the strong points like being able to produce a very brooding moody piece, but his characterization are horrid, and let’s not even get started about dialog. His language and word choice is also so frilly that sometimes you forget that you are reading what is supposed to be a horror story.
And now “Pickman’s Model.”
What says more about the hellish horrors of New England living than the Salem Witch Trials and pacts with the Devil? Nothing, except when Lovecraft writes about them. Pickman is an artist of exceptional talent. He can bring the portraits on canvas alive. The narrator even says this. There is of course a reason. Pickman is not natural. He has either sold himself to the Devil or he is a devil himself.
In this way, “Pickman’s Model” is little more than a bedeviled human story. Pickman is a man haunted by what he is and what he lives amongst. He paints the horrible creatures and scenes to satisfy himself and because that seems to be his job. I suppose even Satan needs a portrait artist. Lovecraft gives us that artist in his own flowery way.
The story talks about the horror of the creatures in the pictures. They are wolf-like and eat the flesh of humans in different locals. They even invade the subway, which is departure for Lovecraft. He often keeps an older idea of things not bringing in much contemporary ideas and scenery.
This story fits the mold of haunted people and places in both capacities. The narrator is haunted by the photograph of the creature Pickman was painting. He is haunted by Pickman’s other works of the macabre as well. Pickman haunts the narrator too, especially after he realizes that the artist isn’t a human at all but something far more sinister.
Pickman is a haunted man. He is haunted by the creatures he paints and the idea of what he is or isn’t. He lives in a horrible location and does his work on a pit that could be called a literal hell hole. He is haunted by his past, which seems to lie somewhere in 1692 and Salem. Pickman seems to be one of the dog monsters in his paintings, but he tries to live in polite society.
The setting of the story is haunted as well. Lovecraft makes reference to Gallow’s Hill, the famous site where so many witches were hanged. He makes reference to the old houses of Boston that the narrator didn’t seem to know still existed. He talks about houses of certain design thought to be hundreds of years in the past. Pickman’s studio is a haunted place. The creatures of the night come forward to feast and he has to kill them.
Lovecraft did haunted places well. He painted vivid pictures of the locale to make the readers feel on edge and unnerved, but so often he forced it. “Pickman’s Model” is over the top in that grand Lovecraftian way. Men are driven mad by simple pictures. They are haunted by these things far more than they should be. As my wife said, “It seemed awfully melodramatic. I got the point early on; he could have just moved on.” I agree. The story had power about four pages in, but Lovecraft just doesn’t know when to say when.
He has the strong points like being able to produce a very brooding moody piece, but his characterization are horrid, and let’s not even get started about dialog. His language and word choice is also so frilly that sometimes you forget that you are reading what is supposed to be a horror story.
And now “Pickman’s Model.”
What says more about the hellish horrors of New England living than the Salem Witch Trials and pacts with the Devil? Nothing, except when Lovecraft writes about them. Pickman is an artist of exceptional talent. He can bring the portraits on canvas alive. The narrator even says this. There is of course a reason. Pickman is not natural. He has either sold himself to the Devil or he is a devil himself.
In this way, “Pickman’s Model” is little more than a bedeviled human story. Pickman is a man haunted by what he is and what he lives amongst. He paints the horrible creatures and scenes to satisfy himself and because that seems to be his job. I suppose even Satan needs a portrait artist. Lovecraft gives us that artist in his own flowery way.
The story talks about the horror of the creatures in the pictures. They are wolf-like and eat the flesh of humans in different locals. They even invade the subway, which is departure for Lovecraft. He often keeps an older idea of things not bringing in much contemporary ideas and scenery.
This story fits the mold of haunted people and places in both capacities. The narrator is haunted by the photograph of the creature Pickman was painting. He is haunted by Pickman’s other works of the macabre as well. Pickman haunts the narrator too, especially after he realizes that the artist isn’t a human at all but something far more sinister.
Pickman is a haunted man. He is haunted by the creatures he paints and the idea of what he is or isn’t. He lives in a horrible location and does his work on a pit that could be called a literal hell hole. He is haunted by his past, which seems to lie somewhere in 1692 and Salem. Pickman seems to be one of the dog monsters in his paintings, but he tries to live in polite society.
The setting of the story is haunted as well. Lovecraft makes reference to Gallow’s Hill, the famous site where so many witches were hanged. He makes reference to the old houses of Boston that the narrator didn’t seem to know still existed. He talks about houses of certain design thought to be hundreds of years in the past. Pickman’s studio is a haunted place. The creatures of the night come forward to feast and he has to kill them.
Lovecraft did haunted places well. He painted vivid pictures of the locale to make the readers feel on edge and unnerved, but so often he forced it. “Pickman’s Model” is over the top in that grand Lovecraftian way. Men are driven mad by simple pictures. They are haunted by these things far more than they should be. As my wife said, “It seemed awfully melodramatic. I got the point early on; he could have just moved on.” I agree. The story had power about four pages in, but Lovecraft just doesn’t know when to say when.
Comments
I like what you say about the haunting aspect and the elements Lovecraft used to back them up - the witch trials and the like.
I hadn't thought about the story that way. I got once again caught up in Lovecraft's negative descriptions...
Posted by: Calie | January 27, 2010 12:34 PM
I do like your idea of being haunted. However,I think that the idea of the narrator being driven mad just by looking at paintings may be a little off base. It seems to me that it is the realization that the creatures in the paintings were actually built from human forms and the subsequent revelation of the photograph that work together to cause the haunting.
Posted by: Craig Grossman | January 28, 2010 07:23 PM
I think you're right on about the characterization. However, writing in Lovecraft's time was much different than writing now. And you're right, he wouldn't have gotten published in today's climate, but neither would Dickens or Alcott or possibly even Hemingway.
I posted in another blog and I've been tossing this around in my head for a little bit. I think the story isn't about the model so much as it's about the horror of what trouble men can get into. Pickman himself was unhinged, or haunted, as you say. That's scary, because Pickman was proud of what he was doing. He was proud of being a bit off the deep end. (As an aside, I would love to have seen this story in his POV -- but I've got a soft spot for unreliable, crazy narrators.) So I wonder if the horror of the realization the narrator had was actually more about the horror of men, rather than the horror of monsters.
Posted by: Venessa G | February 5, 2010 12:51 PM