Visit The *EVEN NEWER* Barrow-Downs Photo Page |
12-17-2011, 05:26 AM | #1 |
Princess of Skwerlz
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
Posts: 7,500
|
Father Christmas Letters: 1928
The picture for this year's letter depicts only one scene, though it uses two levels and has some surrounding borders framing it.
It is addressed to "My dear boys" - Priscilla was born the next year, so no girl addressee yet. John, the eldest, apparently no longer believes in FC and hasn't written to him. The story tells of yet another clumsy thing that happened to the North Polar Bear, giving a reason to show the inside of Father Christmas' house, centering on the great staircase. JRRT does enjoy his puns! This time he plays with the homophones "frieze" and "freeze". Once again the presents are hinted at, with the request to handle them carefully, as they are very good. There is a second note, dated "Boxing Day" (December 26, for those who aren't familiar with that holiday). In it, FC offers apologies for the lateness of the letter (which was dated December 20th), due to the NPB, who forgot to post it. I wonder if JRRT simply hadn't gotten around to writing earlier and thought of this fictional excuse?
__________________
'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...' |
12-17-2011, 06:12 AM | #2 | |
A Voice That Gainsayeth
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 7,431
|
Quote:
What I have noticed only here with this letter, is one thing related to the nice drawings of the stars and moons etc. framing the picture - as FC writes, he is the one who had painted them on the walls of the house as well - and that prompted the idea: if the FC is the one drawing those, is there any way his shaky handwriting would affect also the drawings? I think normally, with painting (if we look at the rest of the pictures), it does not - and that is perhaps even explainable by the different technique - but I wonder if the somewhat shaky contures of the suns, moons etc. framing this picture is not the intentional attempt to put the idea of "shaky handwriting" also into "shaky drawing", if you get what I mean. For that matter: as for painting the interior of the house this time, do you think it was not only FC's idea, but also Tolkien's idea to change the setting for once for some "outside" reason - running out of ideas, perhaps? - and paint something different for a change?
__________________
"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories |
|
12-17-2011, 01:16 PM | #3 | ||
Woman of Secret Shadow
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: in hollow halls beneath the fells
Posts: 4,511
|
Quote:
Quote:
I haven't read the Father Christmas Letters in ages and I don't even have a copy of it so I didn't remember how fantastic the pictures are. I absolutely love this one, it shows a mastery of perspective and colour. The staircase must have taken ages to paint even if he had a model.
__________________
He bit me, and I was not gentle. |
||
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|