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squire
Half-elven
Jul 26 2012, 5:15pm
Views: 2225
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Can't say I agree, although his technical facility is excellent as usual
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I agree that Tolkien's Rivendell is one of the worst of his Hobbit illustrations. It lacks contrast and light even within the constraints of his style and talent. However, I still prefer it in all of its colorfully chaotic quiltiness to Nasmith's over-academicized effort. No Tolkien illustrator surpasses Nasmith's facility with landscape and skyscape, rendered "realistically". But here his compositional gift has left him - I suspect because, as you say, he set himself the goal of "improving" on Tolkien's painting instead of rethinking it. Observing the rules of scale, he minimizes Tolkien's visible, quirky, and attractively off-center Last Homely House to the point of invisibility, and the eye is drawn instead to an anonymous cliff that happens to reside at the center of the painting. A similar criticism applies to the mountain in the distance. Instead of a hidden, almost unnoticed peak lurking at the top of the frame in the original painting, suggesting the hobbit's ultimate goal of the Lonely Mountain, we see in the imitation an obvious, conventional and, frankly, boring rendering of a well-proportioned alpine range. Finally, consider the overall "big picture" effect of the two. Truer to the fantastic text than to realistic Nature, Tolkien's valley feels compressed, vertical, hidden. It is even camouflaged, in a way, by his graphically flattened and dense fields of watercolor. Nasmith's photorealistic valley, while as picturesque as any scenic postcard, feels wide open and exposed to view and empty of magic, or even drama and suspense.
squire online: RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'. Footeramas: The 3rd (and NOW the 4th too!) TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion; and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!" squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary = Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.
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The Hobbit chapter 3: "A Short Rest" discussion pt.1
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Finding Frodo
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Jul 26 2012, 3:44am
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"the smell of the pine-trees made him drowsy"
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SirDennisC
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Jul 26 2012, 3:55am
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Thoughts.
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Curious
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Jul 26 2012, 11:00am
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I can't stay away from these discussions.
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DesiringDragons
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Jul 26 2012, 2:11pm
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Don't!
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sador
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Jul 26 2012, 3:23pm
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It's from Tolkien's illustrations for The Hobbit.//
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Curious
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Jul 26 2012, 3:57pm
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Thank you!
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DesiringDragons
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Jul 26 2012, 5:29pm
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I usually like Tolkien's illustrations best, but in this rare case Naismith
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Curious
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Jul 26 2012, 3:58pm
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Can't say I agree, although his technical facility is excellent as usual
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squire
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Jul 26 2012, 5:15pm
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You make some great points.
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Curious
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Jul 26 2012, 6:13pm
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I find it hard to compare Nasmith and Tolkien
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Escapist
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Jul 26 2012, 10:40pm
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And it's not as if the painting lacks drama
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SirDennisC
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Jul 26 2012, 11:30pm
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Where would a hobbit rather live?
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CuriousG
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Jul 30 2012, 5:06pm
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I'll leave the fine details of the art discussion to those...
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DesiringDragons
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Jul 26 2012, 5:24pm
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*watercolor, not drawing //
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DesiringDragons
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Jul 27 2012, 1:16pm
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Short answers
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sador
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Jul 26 2012, 3:30pm
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Sam, who's master was Frodo
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Escapist
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Jul 26 2012, 3:55pm
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Ah, that's it.
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Curious
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Jul 26 2012, 4:07pm
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Oh yes, Sam!
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DesiringDragons
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Jul 26 2012, 6:18pm
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time flies when you are having fun
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Escapist
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Jul 26 2012, 3:53pm
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I meant Gandalf "entering Moria" - not "enduring Moria"
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Escapist
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Jul 26 2012, 4:12pm
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It makes sense either way
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SirDennisC
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Jul 26 2012, 5:45pm
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It may not be too surprising
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dernwyn
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Jul 27 2012, 2:46am
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Boromir had some trouble finding Rivendell.
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Curious
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Jul 27 2012, 5:46am
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Considering which of those two
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dernwyn
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Jul 27 2012, 10:56am
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Rivendell and Lauterbrunnen: an old link of EoPW's
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dernwyn
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Jul 27 2012, 2:52am
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Thanks for the link
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Finding Frodo
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Jul 28 2012, 3:46am
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