If you don't own this book yet, what are you waiting for? As CJRT put it, you can't fully know Tolkien without knowing his art. And what an incredibly talented and knowledgeable man he was.
It's really amazing that between work, family and writings he still managed to find time to work on his drawings (too little, unfortunately). Did the man ever rest?
What's great about this book, that it's not just the drawings with some comments, the authors actually provide a detailed (and very engaging) account of evolution of JRRT's art throughout his lifetime and its connection to his mythology.
Definitely a great book, and the husband/wife team of Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull's first award-winning collaboration.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Yep - it's a must have...it certainly adds depth and greater appreciation of his literary works.
btw my favourite JRRT illustration is "The Forest of Lothlórien in Spring"
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
I just love this book too (as you can tell from my avatar).
I even like some of Tolkien's non-fictional artwork (The Cottage, p.22)
Some of his quick sketches are interesting as well, but anyone else notice the weird proportions of the inside of Bag-End on p. 146. Something funky with Bilbo and the table scale-wise? Looks like he'd have to jump to reach the door handle!
(Edit: added image)
"...the Sindar had the fairer voices and were more skilled in music...and loved the woods and riversides, and some still would wander far and wide without settled abode, and they sang as they went" - JRRT
I have this, but frankly I don't consider it one of the highlights of my collection. In many ways I prefer "Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien". It seems to me that there's too much desire in "Artist and Illustrator" to portray Tolkien as some sort of talented Artist, when in fact he's very amateur. "Pictures" lets the images stand or fall on their own merit.
Tolkien's illustrations fascinate me because they show what was in his mind as he wrote those scenes. I read LotR numerous times before I ever saw any of Tolkien's pictures. The edition I bought in college had Tolkien images on the covers (long fallen off, alas). But I remember discovering that one that I'd thought was a hobbit in Fangorn was actually an Elf (I forget who) at a completely different place and time.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
It could have been both. He did have a tendency to sometimes reuse pictures for different purposes. Specifically, if I am remembering correctly (and I'm sure that someone can correct me if I am wrong), a picture of Beleg and Gwindor in the woods of Taur-nu-Fuin became Merry and Pippin in Fangorn. It could even be that that is the picture that you are thinking of, Prim. (I'll try to remember to check my copy of Artist and Illustrator when I go home and see if I can confirm this, if no one else does so beforehand.)
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Tolkien's "Taur-na-Fúin" found its way into The Hobbit, redrawn in ink as Mirkwood. Still later it was published in the JRR Tolkien Calendar 1974 wwith Tolkien's consent and with a new title in the artist's hand "Fangorn Forest."
Tolkien seems to have felt that the "Silmarillion" picture somehow could do double duty as an illustration for LotR, and so this one image was used, in one form or another, to illustrate all three of Tolkien's major works.
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
That's really interesting! I'd bet it's the same illustration, two tiny figures almost lost in a forest of immense trees (as I recall it, one appears to be stumbling over some roots). They looked too thin to be hobbits, to my eyes.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Now that you mention it, I think I'd had the books for a while before I noticed the figures.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Originally, Tolkien did this painting for "The Children of Húrin", part of The Silmarillion. He redrew it in ink as Mirkwood for the Hobbit. It was renamed Fangorn Forest for the 1974 Tolkien calendar.
Well, this was a cover painting on a paperback, Siberian, and I'd learned years before that they often have nothing to do with what's inside. . . .
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
The first two could be worse; they don't defy the text completely. But the third—that is so not Minas Tirith!
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Presumably the publishers chose the images they wanted. The TTT cover shows Minas Morgul, I think. I agree that Minas Tirith looks more like Gondolin, tho'
The other mural he did was called The Shire, but it covers a much wider landscape, including the Falls of Rauros, and Pelargir!!!
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
