Tolkien at The Morgan Library

 

 

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth – a new exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum in collaboration with Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries – is a one-of-a-generation opportunity to see the creative process of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Entering through the hobbit house entrance, the visitor will find an exhibition that provides the largest collection of Tolkien material ever assembled in the United States. Visitors will be able to stroll through the development of Tolkien as a writer and artist, from his childhood and student days, through his career as a scholar of medieval languages and literature, to his family life as a husband and father.

 

 

The exhibit notes recount, “Although he was an orphan by the age of twelve, Tolkien’s mother had inspired in him a love of languages and writing. By the time he was in his teens, he was already inventing a language that would later form the basis of the Elvish languages. His childhood in rural England and experiences in the trenches of the First World War both formed indelible impressions on Tolkien that would reassert themselves in the development of Middleearth.” In an already active life, this devoted husband and father found time to invent marvelous mythic worlds for his four children and children everywhere. “Tolkien’s study was never off-limits to his children, and it was the place where they gathered in the evenings to listen to wonderful stories such as The Hobbit.”

Tolkien’s son Michael recalled that those days his father was both father and friend, “a unique adult, the only ‘grown-up’ who appeared to take my childish comments and questions with complete seriousness.”

“Each Christmas from 1920 to 1943, Tolkien’s children received a handwritten letter and drawing from ‘Father Christmas.’ From 1925 onwards, the letters are filled with the escapades of the North Polar Bear, who despite being Father Christmas’s helper usually managed to cause twice as much work for him. As the children grew older, the letters became longer, darker, and more thrilling. In 1932, when Tolkien was working on The Hobbit, goblins appeared at the North Pole and stole the children’s toys. Father Christmas fought them off with the help of the red gnomes (called elves in later letters) and the Northern Polar Bear.”

 

 

Every student and scholar will find a smile as Tolkien recounts how The Hobbit came about. “I can remember sitting one summer with a pile of dreary exam papers in a chair near the front window of my study in 20 Northmoor Road. I came across a blessed blank page and scrawled on it . . . ‘In a hole in the ground lived a Hobbit’”

Notable objects include draft manuscripts of The Hobbit and the original manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, displayed alongside Tolkien’s striking watercolors, drawings, jacket designs and maps. Many people may not realize how much Tolkien experimented with whether naturalistic or abstract art would portray his imaginative worlds.

“Drawing and painting was a form of relaxation on holidays and a source of amusement and comfort to his children. His work on this imaginary world became so all-encompassing that by the 1960s even doodles idly drawn next to the crossword were ascribed to the Second Age of Middle-earth.” Tolkien once said, “I wisely started with a map and made the story fit.”

 

 

After World War II, Tolkien’s writing took a darker, more serious turn in The Lord of the Rings. He and his publishers wondered if it would find an audience. But critics and the public immediately dove into the cosmic battle of good versus evil, an emotional resonance with the war and its end and a foretelling of the feelings that will be engendered by the return of Christ. In a review, C. S. Lewis declared it “like lightning from a clear sky.”

The curator of the exhibit at the Morgan says that as he walks through the exhibit he feels almost voyeuristic in gaining an insight to this great presence in 20^th century scholarship and literature. John McQuillen, Associate Curator, observes, “It’s as if we are looking over his shoulder while he composes and illustrates his vision of Middle-earth. We get to glimpse moments in the creation of the narrative, such as when he changes the wizard’s name to Gandalf or suddenly comes up with the idea of the One Ring.”

 

The exhibition runs through May 12^th at Morgan Library and Museum is located at 36^th Street and Madison Avenue. The exhibit is free Friday nights between 7 and 9. The museum is open and general admission is $20 with discounts for students, seniors and the disabled. Children 12 and under are admitted for free. The Morgan Café is serving Hobbit-inspired food.

 themorgan.org 

(212) 685-0008

The Morgan Library & Museum and the Morgan Shop are open

Tuesday through Thursday: 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Morgan has put out a notice: “Admission to Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth is available on a first-come first-served basis with timed entry on busier days, especially weekends. Advanced admission sales are not available for this exhibition. Access to the exhibition during Free Friday hours is not guaranteed.”

 

 

https://youtu.be/qMPg8Log19U

 

See “Tolkien” the movie in May!

 

https://youtu.be/wZ1vn85iQRE

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