"Pickman's Model" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by H. P. Lovecraft, written in September 1926 and first published in the October 1927 issue of ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

''. It has been adapted for television anthology series twice: in a 1971 episode of ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, ''The Twilight Zone'', ...

'', starring

Bradford Dillman Bradford Dillman (April 14, 1930 – January 16, 2018) was an American actor and author. Early life Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930, in San Francisco, the son of Dean Dillman, a stockbroker, and Josephine (née Moore). Bradford's pa ...

, and in a 2022 episode of ''

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities ''Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities'' (or simply ''Cabinet of Curiosities'') is a horror anthology streaming television series created by Guillermo del Toro for Netflix. It features eight modern horror stories in the traditions of th ...

'', starring

Crispin Glover Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for portraying eccentric characters on screen, such as George McFly in ''Back to the Future'' (1985), Layne in ''River's Edge'' (1986), Andy Warhol in ''The Doors'' ...

and Ben Barnes.

Plot

The story revolves around a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

ian painter named Richard Upton Pickman, who creates horrifying images. His works are brilliantly executed, yet are so graphic that they result in the revocation of his membership in the

Boston Art Club The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, serves to help its members, as well as non-members, to access the world of fine art. It currently has more than 250 members. History The Boston Art Club was first conceived in Boston in 1854 with the co ...

and his ostracization from the city's artistic community. 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 rundown backwater slum. 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 an unearthly, red-eyed, and vaguely canine humanoid balefully chewing on a human victim. 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. Afterwards, the narrator realized that he had nervously grabbed and put the rolled paper in his pocket when the shots were fired. He unrolled it, to reveal that it was a photograph not of the background of the painting, but of the subject. Pickman drew his inspirations not from a diseased imagination, but from monsters that were very much real.

Characters

* Richard Upton Pickman: Pickman is depicted as a renowned

painter notorious for his ghoulish works. His great-great-great-great-grandmother was hanged by

Cotton Mather Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...

during the Salem witch trials of 1692. ("Pickman" and "Upton" are, in reality, old Salem names.Joshi and Cannon, p. 219.) In 1926, Pickman vanished from his home—a date only given in Lovecraft's "

History of the Necronomicon "History of the ''Necronomicon''" is a short text written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1927 in literature, 1927, and published in 1938. It describes the origins of the fictional book of the same name: the occult grimoire ''Necronomicon'', a now-famous el ...

". Pickman reappears as a

ghoul A ghoul ( ar, غول, ') is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid. The concept originated in pre-Islamic Arabian religion, associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. Modern fiction often uses the term to label a certa ...

in ''

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' is a novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Begun probably in the autumn of 1926, the draft was completed on January 22, 1927 and it remained unrevised and unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the ...

'' (

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of V ...

) and aids

Randolph Carter Randolph Carter is a recurring fictional character in H. P. Lovecraft's fiction and is, presumably, an alter ego of Lovecraft himself. The character first appears in "The Statement of Randolph Carter", a short story Lovecraft wrote in 1919 bas ...

in his journeys. :Lovecraft scholar

Robert M. Price Robert McNair Price (born July 7, 1954) is an American New Testament scholar. His most notable stance is arguing in favor of the Christ myth theorythe claim that a historical Jesus did not exist. Price is the author of a number of books on bi ...

writes, "''Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath''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 Tars Tarkas is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Barsoom'' series. A great warrior and leader among his people (the brutal and mirthless Tharks), he possesses a sense of compassion and empathy uncharacteristic of his race. In the ...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

' ''

A Princess of Mars ''A Princess of Mars'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first of his Barsoom series. It was first serialized in the pulp magazine ''All-Story Magazine'' from February–July, 1912. Full of swordplay and dari ...

''. * 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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

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". Thurber is one of several Lovecraft characters to develop a

phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avo ...

as a result of his horrific experiences; his fear of subways and other underground spaces resembles that of the narrator of "

The Lurking Fear "The Lurking Fear" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November 1922, it was first published in the January through April 1923 issues of ''Home Brew''. Plot I. The Shadow on the Chimney In 1921, an unnamed ...

", who "cannot see a well or a subway entrance without shuddering". * Eliot: The character that Thurber tells his story to, is effectively the story's

audience surrogate A narrative technique (known for literary fictional narratives as a literary technique, literary device, or fictional device) is any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey what they want —in other words, a stra ...

. While none of his lines are printed, his questions and interjections are implied by Thurber's dialogue.

Setting

Like the Brooklyn neighborhood portrayed in Lovecraft's "

The Horror at Red Hook "The Horror at Red Hook" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, written on August 1–2, 1925. "Red Hook" is a transitional tale, situated between the author's earlier work and the later Cthulhu Mythos. Although the story depicts a ...

", Boston's North End is depicted as a rundown section inhabited by immigrants and honeycombed by subterranean passageways. Pickman declares: 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".

Inspiration

Pickman's aesthetic principles of horror resemble those in Lovecraft's essay "

Supernatural Horror in Literature "Supernatural Horror in Literature" is a 28,000 word essay by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, surveying the development and achievements of horror fiction as the field stood in the 1920s and 30s. The essay was researched and written between Nove ...

" (1925–1927), on which he was working at the time the short story was composed. When Thurber, the story's narrator, 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 Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...

, who "understood so perfectly the very mechanics and physiology of fear and strangeness". Thurber's description of Pickman as a "thorough, painstaking, and almost scientific ''realist''" recalls Lovecraft's approach to horror in his post- Dunsanian phase. The story compares Pickman's work to that of a number of actual artists, including

Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare'', deal with supernatura ...

(1741–1825),

Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engraving ...

(1832–1883),

Sidney Sime Sidney Herbert Sime (;1865 – 22 May 1941) — he usually signed his works as S. H. Sime — was an early 20th century English artist, mostly remembered for his fantastic and satirical artwork, especially his story illustrations for Irish f ...

(1867–1941),

Anthony Angarola Anthony Angarola (4 February 1893–15 August 1929Anthony ...

(1893–1929),

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

(1746–1828), and

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne ...

(1893–1961).

Technique

The technique of the story is unusual for Lovecraft. The first-person narrative takes the form of a monologue directed at the reader in effect as a fictive listener, whose presumed interjections are implied via the narrator's responses to them. Tangential comments reveal that the conversation takes place in the narrator's Boston drawing room in the evening, where the two have just arrived via taxi. Pickman's narrative-within-the-narrative is also a monologue, directed in turn at the outer narrator as listener. Both narratives are colloquial, casual, and emotionally expressive, which is atypical of Lovecraft's protagonists and style.

Connections

* The motif of a character emptying all six bullets from a revolver also appears in the Lovecraft stories "

Herbert West–Reanimator "Herbert West–Reanimator" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written between October 1921 and June 1922. It was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication ''Home Brew''. The stor ...

" and "

The Thing on the Doorstep "The Thing on the Doorstep" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos universe. It was written in August 1933, and first published in the January 1937 issue of ''Weird Tales''. Inspiration The ide ...

Critical reaction

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

, in his essay "A Literary Copernicus", praised the story for the "supreme chill" of its final line.

Peter Cannon Peter H. Cannon (born 1951 in California) is an H. P. Lovecraft scholar and an author of Cthulhu Mythos fiction. Cannon works as an editor for ''Publishers Weekly'', specializing in thrillers and mystery. He lives in New York City and is married ...

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". ''

An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' is a reference work written by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. It covers the life and work of American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. First published in 2001 by Greenwood Publishing Group, it was reis ...

'' dismisses the story as "relatively conventional".

Adaptations

* In 1971, writer

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor, who was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibl ...

and artist Tom Palmer adapted "Pickman's Model" for the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

horror anthology ''

Tower of Shadows ''Tower of Shadows'' is a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published by the American company Marvel Comics under this and a subsequent name from 1969 to 1975. It featured work by writer-artists Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Johnny Craig, and Wa ...

'' (#9, Jan. 1971), reprinted in Marvel's ''Masters of Terror'' (#2, Sept. 1975). * In 1972, the television show ''

'' 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 Louise Jacqueline Sorel (née Cohen, born August 6, 1940) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Vivian Alamain in '' Days of Our Lives'' from 1992 to 2000, 2009 to 2011, 2017 to 2018, and 2020, Augusta Wainwright on '' ...

) who has fallen in love with Pickman (

). * In ''

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ''Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' is an American comic book series published by Archie Horror, an imprint of Archie Comics, beginning in 2014. The series is a darker take on the characters and setting of ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch''. It is writ ...

'' (Season 2, Episode 4) the short segment "Harvey" shows a possible future in which the character Harvey has a roommate who can see otherworldly creatures through a portal in his closet, the visages of which he replicates through paintings and sells for a tidy profit. Unfortunately, the interactions with the creatures come at a great price to his sanity, leading him to commit suicide by hanging. * The story is adapted as an episode, directed by Keith Thomas and written by Lee Patterson, for ''

''.

portrays Pickman and Ben Barnes plays Thurber. The plot is greatly expanded, using the events of the story as a jumping-off point for a broad Lovecraftian pastiche, including witches, cultists, and an implied apocalypse at the hands of a Great Old One, possibly

Shub-Niggurath Shub-Niggurath is a fictional deity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft. She is often associated with the phrase "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young". The only other name by which Lovecraft referred to her was "Lord of the Wood" in ...

Yog-Sothoth American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) created a number of fictional deities throughout the course of his literary career. These entities are usually depicted as immensely powerful and utterly indifferent to humans who can barely begin to c ...

. Thurber and Pickman are depicted as old classmates at

Miskatonic University Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham, a fictional town in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River (also fictional). After first appearing in H. P. Lovecraft's 1922 story "Herbert West–Rea ...

, Thurber's family life is fleshed out with a wife and son, Pickman is shot by Thurber and eaten by his ghouls, and an exhibition of Pickman's paintings drives both Thurber's family and the Boston art intelligentsia to self-destructive madness.

Other media

* R. U. Pickman is a prominent character in ''Lovecraftian: The Shipwright Circle'' by

Steven Philip Jones Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

. The ''Lovecraftian'' series reimagines the weird tales of H. P. Lovecraft into one single-universe modern epic. * In the 1994 Lovecraftian

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

film ''

In the Mouth of Madness ''In the Mouth of Madness'' is a 1994 American supernatural horror film directed and scored by John Carpenter and written by Michael De Luca. It stars Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jürgen Prochnow, David Warner and Charlton Heston. Neill stars as J ...

'', the

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...

and

Julie Carmen Julie Carmen (born April 4, 1954) is an American actress, dancer and a licensed psychotherapist. She came to prominence onscreen in the 1980s, for her role in John Cassavetes' film, ''Gloria'' (1980), opposite Gena Rowlands. Acting Carmen was ...

characters stay at Pickman's Inn, whose innkeeper, Mrs. Pickman, is played by

Frances Bay Frances Evelyn Bay (née Goffman; January 23, 1919 – September 15, 2011) was a Canadian-American character actress. In a career that spanned 35 years, she acted in a variety of roles both in film and television. Bay was inducted in Canada's Wal ...

. ("Pickman's Motel" would have been nearly identical to the title of the Lovecraft story, but a motel would not be in keeping with the nature of the town of Hobb's End, New Hampshire, where the inn is located). * In

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

's novel '' It'', an artist named Pickman takes part in the 1929 ambush of the Bradley Gang at the

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

city square. * In the 2015 video game ''

Fallout 4 ''Fallout 4'' is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the Fallout (series), ''Fallout'' series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for P ...

'', there is a man named Pickman who kills raiders, collects their heads, and uses their blood to make disturbing paintings, which are displayed in a building called "Pickman's Gallery", located in the North End of the video game's post-apocalyptic Boston.

References

Sources

* Definitive version. * With explanatory footnotes. * Sederholm, Carl, "What Screams are Made Of: Representing Cosmic Fear in H.P. Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model"", ''Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts'', Vol. 16, No. 4 (64) (Winter 2006), pp. 335–349.

External links

* *
Full-text
at The H. P. Lovecraft Archive * {{Authority control 1927 short stories Boston in fiction Fantasy short stories Horror short stories Short stories by H. P. Lovecraft Works originally published in Weird Tales