J. R. R. Tolkien's artwork
Tolkien's artwork was a key element of his creativity from the time when he began to write fiction. The
In his lifetime, some of his artworks were included in his novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; others were used on the covers of different editions of these books. Posthumously, collections of his artworks have been published, and academics have begun to evaluate him as an artist as well as an author.
Early work: sketches
Early in his life, Tolkien, taught by his mother, made many sketches and paintings from life. He drew with skill and depicted landscapes, buildings, trees, and flowers realistically. The one thing he admitted he could not draw was the human figure, where his attempts have been described as "cartoonish", as if "a different hand" was involved.
Illustrations for his books
Tolkien's illustrations for his books consisted of drawings, paintings, artefacts, more or less "picturesque" maps, and calligraphy.[1]
The Hobbit
Tolkien's illustrations contributed to the effectiveness of his writings, though much of his oeuvre remained unpublished in his lifetime. However, the first British edition of
The Lord of the Rings
The Book of Mazarbul
Tolkien worked on making realistic artefacts to accompany his writing; he spent enormous effort on a
The Doors of Durin
The Lord of the Rings, despite Tolkien's best efforts, appeared with only one illustration other than its maps and calligraphy. This was The Doors of Durin, in the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, in 1954.[1][T 6]
The
He wrote to Unwin that while he was drawing it in black ink "it should of course properly appear in white line on a black background, since it represents a silver line in the darkness. How does that appeal to the Production Department?"[T 1]
The image was accompanied by a calligraphic caption in English, made to resemble "both the insular characters of Old English manuscript and the very Feänorian characters [that] it translates".[1]
The Silmarillion
Tolkien did not live to see
Maps
Calligraphy
Tolkien's profession of
Tolkien applied his skill in calligraphy to write the One Ring's iconic inscription, in the Black Speech of Mordor, using Tengwar. The calligraphic inscription and a translation provided by Gandalf appear in The Fellowship of the Ring.[T 9]
Publication
In 1979, Tolkien's son Christopher began the process of bringing his father's artwork to the world's attention, beyond the images already published at that time on calendars, by editing Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien.[T 10] It had 48 plates, some in colour.[7]
Two major books have addressed Tolkien's artwork: Hammond and Scull's 1995 collection of his paintings,
Analysis
Influences on Tolkien's artwork identified by scholars include
John R. Holmes, in the
The Tolkien scholars Jeffrey J. MacLeod and Anna Smol write that as an artist, Tolkien "straddled the amateur and professional fields", something he did also in his fiction and his scholarly studies. They note that he always had pencils, paper, coloured inks, chalks, and paintboxes to hand, and that his metaphors of creativity, as in his essay On Fairy-Stories, constantly refer to colour, or as in his poem Mythopoeia, to the theme of light,[14] something that the scholar of mythology and medieval literature Verlyn Flieger calls central to the whole mythology, seen throughout The Silmarillion.[15] MacLeod and Smol write that images and text "merge" in his creative work in four ways: in drafting his tales; in shaping his descriptions of landscapes; in his explorations of the visual appearance of text, as in his invented alphabets, his calligraphy, and his "JRRT" monogram; and in his view of the relationship between illustration and fantasy. In short, they conclude, "Tolkien's art and his visual imagination should be considered an essential part of his writing and thinking."[12]
Artists inspired by Tolkien's writing
Many artists and illustrators have created drawings, paintings, and book illustrations of Tolkien's Middle-earth. Tolkien was critical of some of the early attempts,[T 11] but was happy to collaborate with the illustrator Pauline Baynes who prepared the iconic map of Middle-earth.[16] Among the many artists who have worked on Middle-earth projects are John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith; as well as illustrating books, Howe and Lee worked as conceptual artists for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.[17]
References
Primary
- ^ a b Carpenter 2023, #137 to Rayner Unwin, 11 April 1953
- ^ a b Tolkien 1979, Figure 1
- ^ a b Carpenter 2023, #141 to Allen & Unwin, 9 October 1953
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 5 "The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm"
- ^ Carpenter 2023, #139 to Rayner Unwin, 8 August 1953
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 4 "A Journey in the Dark"
- ^ a b Tolkien 1979, Figure 46
- ^ Tolkien 1977, Front and back cover
- ^ a b Tolkien 1954a, book 1, ch. 2 "The Shadow of the Past"
- ^ Tolkien 1979, Foreword
- ^ Carpenter 2023, #107 to Sir Stanley Unwin, 7 December 1946.
Secondary
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Holmes 2013, pp. 27–32.
- ^ a b c McIlwaine 2018, pp. 70–71.
- ^ "The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water". Museoteca. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
- ^ Fimi 2010, pp. 192–194.
- ^ Huttar 1975, pp. 121–122.
- ^ a b Campbell 2013, pp. 405–408.
- OCLC 937613591. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
- ^ Hammond & Scull 1995.
- ^ McIlwaine 2018.
- ^ Hammond & Scull 2011.
- ^ Hammond & Scull 2015.
- ^ a b MacLeod & Smol 2017, pp. 115–131.
- ^ a b c d Mortimer 2005, pp. 113–129.
- ^ MacLeod & Smol 2008, article 10.
- ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 6–61, 89–90 and passim.
- ^ McIlwaine 2018, p. 384.
- ^ "76th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 19 February 2006. Retrieved 29 May 2006.
Sources
- Campbell, Alice (2013) [2007]. "Maps". In ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
- ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4.
- OCLC 222251097.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-1955-0.
- ISBN 978-0-261-10322-1.
- Hammond, Wayne G.; Scull, Christina (2011). The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. London: ISBN 978-0-00-744081-8.
- Hammond, Wayne G.; Scull, Christina (2015). The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. London: ISBN 978-0-00-810575-4.
- Holmes, John R. (2013) [2007]. "Art and Illustrations by Tolkien". In ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
- ISBN 978-0875483030.
- McIlwaine, Catherine (2018). ISBN 978-1-851-24485-0.
- MacLeod, Jeffrey J.; Smol, Anna (2008). "A Single Leaf: Tolkien's Visual Art and Fantasy". Mythlore. 27 (1). article 10.
- MacLeod, Jeffrey J.; Smol, Anna (2017). "Visualizing the Word: Tolkien as Artist and Writer". S2CID 171923300.
- Mortimer, Patchen (2005). "Tolkien and Modernism". S2CID 170640541.
- OCLC 5978089.
- OCLC 9552942.
- ISBN 978-0-395-25730-2.
External links
- Tolkien's paintings, illustrations, maps, and calligraphy on the Tolkien Estate website