Tolkien, the Artist

[Lalwendë]

I have to say, I like the stamp from the North Pole, upper left in the second picture. Why? Because it actually seems to have a pole on it, and as a child I always imagined that the North Pole was exactly that, a big pole sticking out of the ice.

[piosenniel]

Alongside the Father Christmas Letters, Mr. Bliss is one of my favorite children’s books. It’s all written in Tolkien’s crabbed hand and filled with lovely colored pencil drawings.

~*~

Mr. Bliss (he of the many impossibly tall hats) buys a car and goes traveling in it:

In the yellow car with red wheels

~*~

The Girabbit

~*~

The 3 bears

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks for posting those links, pio!! I've been looking for the Mr. Bliss book, hoping that it too, like some of the others, would be reprinted in the wake of increased interest. So far, alas, I've not been successful in finding it - does anyone have the book or information about it?

By the way, did anyone notice that the stamp on the lower right of those four has "2 kisses" written on it? The others have only the number, but I find it amusing that he didn't use a British coinage for the stamp.

[piosenniel]

I have the book. I found it on eBay.

It was originally published by Allen and Unwin in 1982; then, reissued in 1990 by HarperCollins.

However - you can get it through amazon.com (it's unavailable through them directly (out of print perhaps) - but, in their used titles section you can find copies to buy. (I've have good luck geting books this way.)

Here's a link. Just click on 'buy used' in the upper right of the screen.

~*~ Pio

[Bêthberry]

I found an article which might be interesting in terms of resurrecting this thread--a companion to Esty's bad Tolkien art thread!

While I'm not convinced by all of the points made in this article, it is still an intriguing approach, to suggest that Tolkien's imagination was fired by art and illustration as well as by literary texts. Since Tolkien was a talented amateur artist, such an idea at least offers grounds for considering the breadth of his imagination. And why miss an opportunity for considering his relationship with Art Nouveau?

Perhaps we might also have a key here to understanding why some illustrators of Tolkien find approval among the Barrow Downers and others don't. Do illustrators who stray too far from Art Nouveau style risk breaking that intangible thread of imaginary visual sense? (Hey, I might post this idea on the bad art thread.)

Tolkien and the New Art: Visual Sources for Lord of the Rings

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Perhaps we might also have a key here to understanding why some illustrators of Tolkien find approval among the Barrow Downers and others don't. Do illustrators who stray too far from Art Nouveau style risk breaking that intangible thread of imaginary visual sense? (Hey, I might post this idea on the bad art thread.)

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.

[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.

[MatthewM]

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.

Wow, I've never seen the ones by S. Juchimov- those are truly great. The only thing I find a bit odd is the depiction of halo's around the heads of the figures.