Tolkien, the Artist

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by davem

Have to say my favourite illustrations of Tolkien's work are the ones by Pauline Baynes (especially the SoWM & Giles pictures) & S. Juchimov http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/juchimov.htm both of which have a very 'medieval' feel.

Funnily enough, styles like those of Baynes and Juchimov were very much was I was thinking of davem, despite their differences with Art Nouveau. The characteristic which is absent in them but present in many of the artists which are not admired here is what I would call a "muscular" quality. There's something ethereal in the illustrators we admire and that characteristic is lacking in those we don't. Ethereal and something else, too, something whimsical.

The very sort of thing missing in the artwork on the site of one long time ago Downs member, by name of Cimmerian. He's got some orcs there amongst the fleshpots that might be qualified as Tolkien art.

I think I'm definitely going to link this to Esty's other thread.