When I was last in my native Los Angeles this past August, I had the immense fortune of being able to attend the Guillermo del Toro exhibition at LACMA, sensibly named At Home With Monsters. It is a stunningly curated exhibition of items from his own personal collection of artwork, ephemera, costumes, and other macabre and enchanting treasures. Normally, these fascinating things are kept in del Toro's second home, which he has named Bleak House, after the Charles Dickens novel. At LACMA, the works are organised by themes such as death, the afterlife, and magic, rather than by chronology.
I was moved by the amount of love that del Toro obviously puts into his acquisition, display, and maintenance of the pieces shown. If I took away anything from the experience, it was a newfound respect and tenderness for the man: A boy fascinated by the more strange and dark aspects of life, his love affair with cinema, and how he grew further into these things rather than out of them. Be still, my gothic heart.
Fortunately, I was allowed to take photos. I made a pass through the different enclaves of gorgeous and bizarre artifacts, mouth hanging open and stars in my eyes, and then did a second walk through to take some keepsake images for myself and for you.
Lovely mama ghost from Crimson Peak.
The Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth.
My British husband with Poe and Lovecraft: two Americans who very much wanted to be British.
Gal Pal and myself in front of a mural-sized photo of del Toro's Bleak House.
Del Toro's lurid collection of Famous Monsters comics.
Brief interlude of Gal Pal, hubs, Gal Pal's boyfriend, and my bro-in-law playing inside LACMA's famous streetlamp installation.
The ladies of Crimson Peak looking gorgeous.
Nosferatu doll and grandfather clock.
Hubs being judged by a puppet of Peter Cushing.
Noodle interlude.
Edith's nightgown from Crimson Peak.
Never enough Lovecraft.
Myself in front of one of the rain windows. Del Toro has a rain room in Bleak House, which is encircled by these windows that simulate rain.
There was a wealth of other beautiful things, such as props from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a collection of Victorian post-mortem photograhy, one of del Toro's personal sketchbooks, and original concept art from Disney's Sleeping Beauty and Sleepy Hollow.
At Home With Monsters will be up until 27 November 2016. If you're in Los Angeles, I'd highly recommend going, especially if you're someone who's spookily inclined.
Click here to be taken to the exhibition's page in the LACMA site!
I was moved by the amount of love that del Toro obviously puts into his acquisition, display, and maintenance of the pieces shown. If I took away anything from the experience, it was a newfound respect and tenderness for the man: A boy fascinated by the more strange and dark aspects of life, his love affair with cinema, and how he grew further into these things rather than out of them. Be still, my gothic heart.
Fortunately, I was allowed to take photos. I made a pass through the different enclaves of gorgeous and bizarre artifacts, mouth hanging open and stars in my eyes, and then did a second walk through to take some keepsake images for myself and for you.
There was a wealth of other beautiful things, such as props from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a collection of Victorian post-mortem photograhy, one of del Toro's personal sketchbooks, and original concept art from Disney's Sleeping Beauty and Sleepy Hollow.
At Home With Monsters will be up until 27 November 2016. If you're in Los Angeles, I'd highly recommend going, especially if you're someone who's spookily inclined.
Click here to be taken to the exhibition's page in the LACMA site!
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