Who is Winthrop Kellogg (Kelly) Edey?
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Anyone who is named Winthrop Kellogg (Kelly) Edey has to be of some interest. I came upon this name in the magnificent book by Adrian Dannatt, Doomed and Famous, a collection of obituaries he wrote for various publications. Winthrop (1937-1999) came from a fascinating family. His father was the editor of Time-Life Books and the co-author of Lucy: The Beginnings of Mankind. The mother was a psychiatrist and forefront in women's reproductive rights. A typical day for Kelly would be to get up at four in the afternoon and go out to have his orange juice in a nearby restaurant. Others in the dining area would be having their cocktails, but morning is strictly an essential time for Kelly, even though it may not be your morning. He spent time with friends, but Kelly liked to spend the evening in his apartment working on his detailed diary as in that it's as in-depth as Marcel Proust's masterpiece novel In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu ). Ancient Egypt, eighteenth-century literature, and the history of photography interested him greatly. He collected photographs by Man Ray. Kelly preferred the night because he loathed noise, and the only sounds that pleased him were the ticking of clocks - a lot of clocks.
Kelly had a collection of antique clocks from various centuries, and he often liked to work on them. He obtained the first clock from his grandmother's house, which must have been a night (no pun intended)mare because he loathes the daylight hours. Still, I suspect that the mechanism of such an instrument interested him, not the fact it had anything to do with time. For myself, I like to acknowledge the day turning into night and the moment the night shifts back to the day. Winthrop preferred the daytime not existing.
I tried to locate some images of Kelly, but the only ones I can find are two photos. One from the Andy Warhol film The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys of 1964. And the other is taken in 1970, him looking thoughtful and by one of his beloved timepieces. It's interesting to note that Kelly, who spent so much time on his journals, refused to make this work available for the public. His library, clocks/watches, and photographs are all part of the permanent Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library.
Until tonight, I have never heard of Winthrop Kellogg Edey, but a so obsessed figure with a specific type of object and is focused on his interests and nothing else. I too long to blot out the world and replace it with what I find is sensuality and pleasure.