Textile Arts and Tolkien

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks for those thoughts so far! Arwen as Betsy Ross makes me smile.

I appreciate the HoME quotes, davem, since I haven't yet read that volume. That does shed some light on the subject of gender specialties. I agree, looking into the connection between fate and weaving could be very interesting!

I've begun reading Hammond and Scull's J.R.R. Tolkien, Artist and Illustrator and am finding some interesting thoughts on his artistic background there. They agree that his art works show evidence of influence by the Arts and Crafts movement and that his writing shows his agreement with the ideas as well.

It seems clear, too, that he agreed with the underlying philosophy of Morris and his followers, which looked back to a much earlier time: that the 'lesser' arts of handicraft embodied truth and beauty no less than the 'fine' arts of painting and sculpture. One looks for the latter almost in vain in Tolkien's writings (Leaf by Niggle excepted), but finds a wealth of references to crafts.

The woven tapestries in the Golden Hall are one of the examples they cite.

I won't hijack this thread for a closer look at Tolkien's art work, which deserves one specifically devoted to that topic, but I like finding the connections that show us how important the crafts, including textile arts, were considered by him.