Illustrations for Tolkien Works

[Andorinha]

A catchall topic for artistic interpretations of Tolkien's works.

[Andorinha]

Reminding me of the original art work done for the Lewis Carrol "Alice in Wonderland" series, here are some illustrations done back in the 90's for a projected edition of "The Hobbit:"

monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2020/04/peter-klucik-illustrations-for.html?fbclid=IwAR3z9w0paiMbji8f8l7aQO_GLJY8xiyhuOKJ2pH84NHY8LmUl2zpnDf6IgA&m=1

[Stormrider]

These are awesome! Too bad they never made any publications. I wish I had seen these when we were doing our studies. They would have added a nice touch.

Bilbo is so ... round, and Gandalf so ... skinny! LOL! I like how Klucik. Portrayed Beorn. The dwarves sitting in the tree with their looking beards hanging down is priceless and Smaug has ... feathers?

I just love these.

[fanuidhol]

And I feel quite the opposite. I dislike them in general as Tolkien art, though I do like Gandalf in particular. Bilbo, not so much. If you showed me most of these, without telling me ahead of time that they were to illustrate The Hobbit, I would not have known.
The illustrations remind me of briansibleysblog.blogspot.com/2017/04/hobbits-and-lions-and-emus-oh-my.html
I am not saying that I dislike the art. The way I envision The Hobbit is heavily influenced by Tolkien's own illustrations.
I prefer the illustrations of the other artists in this link over those of Klucik: www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/13/vintage-hobbit-illustrations/
The Annotated Hobbit by Douglas A Anderson contains many illustrations from many translated versions. Thumbing through the book, I did not see any that I don't like, but I did not do a page by page study.

[fanuidhol]

And on an entirely side note:
After Andy's post of likening Klucik's art to those he has seen in Alice in Wonderland, I looked at a book I own, the facimile of the 2nd version of Alice's Adventures Underground, illustrated by Lewis Carroll.
I must tell you that this book is one of my prized possessions, given to me for my 8th grade graduation by my mother's friend, who worked for the publisher. What is most odd about it being one of my prized possessions is that I am not a big fan of Lewis Carroll, nor a big fan of my mother's friend. It wasn't the first book I owned nor any other sentimental reason. The only reason I can think of is that it is different from any other book I own.
www.bl.uk/collection-items/alices-adventures-under-ground-the-original-manuscript-version-of-alices-adventures-in-wonderland

[Stormrider]

Well, I liked these because they were so different than the other artists. I agree Bilbo was way too round in these and I thought Beorn was weird. But I just like the difference of them, rather eerie, and they would have made an interesting addition to The Hobbit study.

Alice in WL is a creepy tale and I never liked it that much either. This type of art by Kuchik would have fit Alice. Strange characters, eating things that made her large or small, hallucinating the Cheshire Cat, beheadings. Creepy

[Stormrider]

And The Hobbit is kind of dark, too. Dark giant spider woods, glowing eyes watching them, elves vanishing in a snap, being woven in spider webbing, gollum slithering in a dark dank underground hole, dwarves wanting revenge on a dragon, people, elves, and dwarves fighting. But The Ring always seemed to save the day!

[Andorinha]

Like Stormy, what impressed me most about these interpretations by Klucik, was precisely their alienation from the standard, canonical portrayals. Klucik's Gollum is clearly (to my interpretation) not a hobbit/ Stoor derived character, but something, totally different, uninfluenced by the need to connect LOTR to the earlier work...

Love the "wicked," black squirrels!

While I do like JRRT's own illustrations -- I still, by far, prefer my original 1965 mental images, formed at my first reading, and long before any illustrations were available.

Oooo, Fan -- kool that you have Lewis' own illustrations!

LOL -- The "hobbits and lions, and emus, oh my" were my first Tolkien related art, still have a soft spot for them, was lucky enough to get "first edition" Ballentine copies, especially the lion included on the cover of The Hobbit!

Love Tove Jansson -- still re-reading her Moomintrolls, find something disturbingly "adult" about The Groke (especially her first appearances) and the not so nice Little My ( her eradication of the ants is chilling). Like very much her illustrations for The Hobbit.

[fanuidhol]

I was wandering around the Internet the other day, and came upon a link that sent me to a Russian site that had a number of Illustrations for LotR done in the Russian iconography style by S. Yuhimov (Sp?). I decided not to present that site here, but have been thinking about them ever since. So, I looked for an English page for them and found this - www.openculture.com/2014/06/russian-illustrations-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-in-a-medieval-iconographic-style-1993.html
The blue links are interesting, also. This one - www.liveinternet.ru/community/2281209/post116167073 It has many more of the illustrations, though it is a Russian site.

Honestly, they feel disturbing to me, almost blasphemous, having grown up Catholic. But, at the same time, I feel drawn to the artists vision of each piece. Odd.

[Stormrider]

These remind me of stained glass images in a church. They have halos and one looks like the last supper. Perhaps the religious touch is because JRRT was a devout Catholic and this artist was picking up on that for his images.

I don't like these very much but they were interesting to see. I understand why they feel blasphemous to you. I get the same feeling.

[Andorinha]

Oooo, yes, very interesting! Hmmm, Eastern Orthodox/ Byzantine influence -- quite different from our more western artistic forms.