Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Horde

Shane Magnus has posted a look at his collection of Cthulhu idols.



As happens far too often, the sculptors behind some of the statues are totally unknown. That's not a criticism of Shane in any way. I'm a die-hard collector of props like this and I couldn't tell you who created half of my idols, much to my chagrin. That's one of the motivations behind my efforts to post about any Cthulhu statuettes I come across- so that the artists can receive proper credit.

8 comments:

  1. One of those occasions when "Horde" and "Hoard" both equally apply...

    ... along with "Horrid"....

    --Raven.

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  2. Yes, it is a shame that I do not know who sculpted some of the pieces in my collection. I am not sure why an artist would go to so much trouble to create and sell a piece of art, and not sign it. If anyone recognizes an unnamed artist please contact me ASAP.

    Thanks!

    (And thanks for sharing my pic!)

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  3. "I am not sure why an artist would go to so much trouble to create and sell a piece of art, and not sign it."

    In the case of pieces like this... to let the customer maintain his or her willing suspension of disbelief?

    It's a whole lot easier to pretend to yourself, "Yes, this really is an ancient piece of cult statuary," if you're *not* looking at an inscription on the item that says "©2007 John Doe."

    Propnomicon Sensei, are your things-in-bottles signed? No? Same reason, right?

    --Raven

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  4. Raven raises a good point about avoiding signatures on work to support their immersiveness.

    That said, it's amazing how many Cthulhu idols are created by unknown artists. As a collector I always feel guilty when I can't ID a piece, but some statues are close to impossible to match up with a sculptor. Over the years there have probably been close to a hundred professional idols produced, professional in this case being defined as a run of multiple copies that were offered for sale, but only..what...two dozen have identified artists?

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  5. In the absence of any ID *on* those pieces (or associated by labels, tags, boxes, enclosed certificates or prop-papers), it may be that the best thing to do is post some sort of "registry" webpage, where collectors and artists can pool info.

    Someone may spot your anonymous item #36 and say, "Here's one just like it (photo for confirmation) that I got directly from the artist at NecronomiCon #3; his name was...."

    Or someone else surfing the Net may come across an artist's gallery and spot a match to your #37. And so forth.

    Meanwhile, the info you've already gathered will help other collectors ID their own orphaned pieces.

    "Cthulhu Idol Detectives" may seem a bit single-purpose, but you could always branch out into "Shub-Niggurath Idol Detectives" if the demand is there.

    --Raven.

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  6. Oh, and if I might suggest for database purposes: index by weight (grams) and height (centimeters), using the two horizontal measures optionally e.g. to differentiate similar pieces.

    Without even looking at photos, e.g. in newsgroup or text-email discussions, that may be enough to identify pieces for discussion.

    "Well, I've got this 2300g x 27.3cm idol..."

    "Oh, hey, you've got the HPLHS Legrasse Idol by Bryan Moore of Arkham Studios! Which color surfacing did you get? They did three editions...."

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  7. Centered in the back row:
    http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2010/11/cthulhu-fhtagn-poppe-edition.html

    I have seen a few of the others as well, so I might be able to identify them.

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  8. The one on the far right seems to be by Sam Greenwell.

    I thought I had seen a picture of it in a book of mine from a couple decades ago. When I checked the suspected books I found sculptures with similar forms, and drawings with some resemblance, but not this. Does anyone know when it was made?

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