The Latest Tolkien Calendar

[Maglor]

Great post woodsy. I hadn't even considered the signifigence of the missing rider


Here is what Blok has to say about the whole duck issue in the Introduction:

"...several of my pictures depart from the textual truth. Tolkien himself pointed out to me that Gollum is a relative of Hobbits, a feature which had completely escaped my mind when I made him a creature somewhere between a lizard and a bird."​

So you could look at it as a f___-up, but I prefer to think that it just felt right to Blok at the time. And as I've said, it doesn't spoil it for me.

Here is another image with Gollum in it. This one is also in my dining room:

Riddles In the Dark​

 

[Maglor]

It is this sort of minimalism that reminds me of all the wonderful art in the foreign language editions of the Hobbit. I can't help but see some resemblance to the Lewis Chessmen which I suppose is Saxon imagery? I'm certainly no expert but it does remind me of early northern European/Scandinavian art. Clearly this fits with Tolkien's world not the world created by PJ which I don't care for. People mentioned missed opportunities in the PJ films. Not to derail but compare the dramatic tension in the Rankin Bass version of the Pelennor Fields to PJ's. Eowyn's defeat of the Nazgul just plain sucks in PJ's version. Anyway, off topic. Thanks for sharing these here because I likely would not have seen them otherwise.

Thought you might find this interesting:

Cor Blok, now a retired Dutch professor in history of art, made more than 100 illustrations for The Lord of the Rings as a graduation project at his art college. This was in 1960 and 1961, so now over 50 years ago. His idea was a sort of Bayeux tapestry, including artificial aging. Painted on two pieces of rice paper, which were stuck together while wet.

His work is well-known in The Netherlands and Belgium because three of his paintings were on the first Dutch paperback edition of the Dutch translation of The Lord of the Rings, and were on the covers from 1965 up to 1979.

^^^Taken from this site: https://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/930-Tolkien_Calendar_2011_Cor_Blok.php



^^^For those interested that page has a link to Amazon (US and UK) for buying the 2011 Tolkien calendar.

 

[rushmore223]

Those things bugged me about the movies as well.








I wouldn't use the term "brainwashed" but I think you have summed it up well.

It looks different that than what we've seen on screen, and it looks different than what we have in our head. So it must be crap right?
Well I think that's missing the point. As I have quoted Blok as saying, they are not meant to be accurate in detail. They are not even what the artist has in his mind. They are meant to capture the essence of the text. The emotion.

I agree that Gollum looks like a duck. I mentioned it in the first post. But it doesn't ruin the picture for me.


Anyway, glad some of you liked it.

I'll bump this thread again next year when the next calendar comes out.

Just to clarify... I never said it was crap, just not for me.

 

[Maglor]

I know you didn't.

 

[rushmore223]

I suppose one thing that has been overlooked by merely stating our opinions or tastes as far as the art presented goes, is that in the very least, the makers of this calendar are trying to show not only Tolkein's worlds in a different light, but broadening our perspective on these places and characters that we are so familiar with. (How is that for a run-on sentence?)

I think they should be given credit for not playing it safe and merely rehashing the same thing every year, as they could have done. While it does not appeal to me, I am at least impressed with the presentation of otherwise unorthodox material in a fantasy world who's look has been solidified in the minds of so many by not only a fantastic and visionary work of literature, but an amazing achievement in modern cinema.

It has worked, as I am doing something I have not done in years, thinking and talking about this calendar which has been dead to me for at least a few years due to staleness.

I always appreciate the opportunity to look at something in a new way.

I hope this calendar sells well and they continue to take chances in their annual publication.

 

[furystorm]

I just ordered this for myself as a little birthday present, since I'm sadly just sitting in front of my monitor waiting for the time to leave for work. I like this calendar a lot and needed one anyway for my dog's medication.

 

[Maglor]

Sweet! Glad somebody else bought it!

 

[MrPickles]

Make that two purchases! This calendar will be a nice change of pace for 2011.

Harkens back to that medieval 'Bayeux Tapestry' feel...

Maybe for 2012 we could get a calendar featuring the work of "Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth" by Donato Giancola

 

[Maglor]

Harkens back to that medieval 'Bayeux Tapestry' feel...

Harkens back to that medieval 'Bayeux Tapestry' feel...

Absolutely! Totally agree!

My all-in-one-volume copy of LOTR has that on the dust jacket.

Gotta be the most disturbing depiction of Gollum I've ever seen!

Maybe for 2012 we could get a calendar featuring the work of "Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth" by Donato Giancola

I would love that, as his work is stunningly beautiful. But I have no doubt that the next couple years will focus on the Hobbit, with the forthcoming movies.

 

[Maglor]

Had to comment on this one in it's own post:

:eek :eek :eek


Gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing! This is one of my favorite moments in LOTR and that painting is now tied for first place for my favorite depiction of it.

I honestly can't decide which I prefer...

 

[Maglor]

We should start a Tolkien art thread to share this stuff...

 

[niamh]

Hi folks, I was just skimming google for pictures of Cor Blok for an avatar when I stumbled on this thread, and I had to register to back up the Blok fans.


The 1st time I saw a picture of Cor's years ago I instantly dismissed it as rubbish (as the human brain is wont to do with novelties to protect itself), but later read that Tolkien liked it so gave it another chance.
Suddenly I "got it"; to this day Helm's deep is just about my favourite painting of all times. The use of the light is simply amazing.

I do not like abstract art as such but something in this art tugged at me until I read Cor's blurb on the calendar, about trying to reproduce the prehistoric wall paintings feeling. This is what I loved indeed.

Pictures like the vision of Frodo, the field of Cormallen or the ford of Bruinen are simply marvellous.
Frankly I can barely take the ordinary Tolkien art nowadays, Cor's leave you so much more in command of your own imagination. And his mastery of lights and shadows could keep you string for hours.

Anyway,I thought I'd come to the rescue, some of us do love him for the genius that he is




edited to add the battle of the hornburg, since you might not know what I'm on about.
Look at the use of pure light in the corner, the shine off Gandalf, the darkness from the orcs, the dawn coming, the night and its terror, the trees, everything. It's not in said shapes, but in colours.

 

[Maglor]

^^^

Very cool that you joined to share that!

Glad to hear from another Blok fan!


I agree with every word of your assessment.


The Battle Of the Hornburg is the August picture in the 2011 calendar. And that is one of the pictures I have framed in my dining room. I never fully considered Blok's use of light in that painting, so thank you for drawing my attention to it! I appreciate it even more now.

 

[niamh]

Yeah, and it's a bad, flat jpeg


If you look even closer at it, you can see it manages to convey the whole battle in one little painting, from the hopelessness at the start right to the very end, when the dawn comes.
That's something John Howe or Alan Lee, much as I love them too, just cannot convey in their architectural drawings.

When you watch the above painting, you are not given a scientific depiction of helm's deep, or anything for that matter; you are given a whole, entire, piece of the book, alongside all the feelings you experienced when you read it*.

The vision of Frodo on Amon Hen, does the same if you stare at it long enough. And the wraiths at the ford (the feeling of dread emanating off it is amazing)



Honestly, the guy's a genius.



PS: I understand how that might fall on deaf brains for the movie fans



*this is why some of you (and me) defend the drawing of the "duck and the two middle eastern wives" so staunchly. 3 little teletubbies on no background at all, and yet by looking at it we are inside that chapter immediately, extremely vividly, much more than any photograph would do.
Blok is the anti PJ. PJ was all form and no depth, Blok is no form at all and all depth.

 

[Maglor]

I agree about him capturing the feel of an entire pasage rather than just displaying a second in time.

Same goes for The Slaying of the Nazgul.

The Nazgul's steed should be dead at the moment of the slaying, but this captures everything from the taunts of the Witchking, to Mary stabbing his foot, to the actual slaying at Eowyn's hand. Eowyn's proximity to Theodin even evokes the moment she morns over him. It's all there.



Blok said that he had to use a spear instead of a sword because that's the only way she could reach up to his head. But even that doesn't bother me, because it just feels right.