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Painting ‘the most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar’: Aesthetic Beauty in The Silmarillion and its Illustrations — Online Midsummer Seminar, 2025

In August 2025 I gave a talk at the Mythopoeic Society’s OMS (which I’d attended for a few years without daring to apply). This presentation is, as is often the case with my talks, largely taken from a chapter of my PhD. This time, I explore the concept of visual beauty in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium, through the rather telling example of Lúthien, and what that means for artists commissioned to illustrate her in official editions sanctionned by the Tolkien Estate, namely Alan Lee and Ted Nasmith. Depiste focusing on these two well-known names, I made it a point to include a lot of stunning fan-art in my powerpoint presentation, and to add a coda at the end about diversity.

The recording is available to watch here (click). Please ignore the technical glitch at the start.

A Princess illustrates The Lord of the Rings: Ingahild Grathmer, Eric Fraser and the Folio Society — Oxonmoot 2022

In 2022, I presented this paper at the Tolkien’s Society convention Oxonmoot. It was meant as a follow-up to the 2019 talk I gave at Tolkien2019 in Birmingham, which was published in 2025 thanks to the long-term efforts of Will Sherwood and is available here. My 2022 paper was neither published nor recorded, but it is a significant improvement from the 2019 talk which included a lot more questions than answers, and so I decided to publish my research here.

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Des lapins aux Hobbits : illustrer et traduire J.R.R. et Christopher Tolkien en France

Cet article est la traduction française de ma communication présentée lors du séminaire de la Tolkien Society sur le thème “Translating and Illustrating Tolkien”, le 6 novembre 2021.

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Abstract: “From rabbits to Hobbits: illustrating and translating J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien in France”

I will deliver a paper at the upcoming Tolkien Society Seminar on “Translating and Illustrating Tolkien”. My focus will be on France, and here is my abstract below.

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Des artistes venus de Terre du Milieu : une plongée du 21e siècle dans le Monde Secondaire de J.R.R. Tolkien

Cet article est la traduction de ma communication intitulée « Artists from Middle-earth: a 21st-century dive into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Secondary World », donnée lors du Tolkien Society Seminar le 13 février 2021. Vous pourrez retrouver la vidéo de mon intervention tout en bas de cet article.

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Illustrating Tolkien – a podcast with Tolkiendil

Back in December, a few weeks after I joined them, the association Tolkiendil (the French equivalent to the Tolkien Society) invited me to talk about my research in their podcast. I took this opportunity to present all the artists that appear in my PhD corpus.

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Tolkien Society Seminar 2021: abstract

It is my great pleasure to take part in the first Tolkien Society Seminar of 2021, held online on Saturday 13th February. The theme chosen being “Twenty-first Century Receptions of Tolkien”, I took it as an opportunity to explore one of the more contemporary aspects of Tolkien-inspired art, stepping a little away from my usual area of study (interior illustrations). For the first time, registration for the Seminar is free. More information can be found on the Tolkien Society website (click). Below is my abstract.

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Oxonmoot 2020: a complement to my talk about the BnF Tolkien exhibition

This week-end, from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th September 2020, the Tolkien Society is hosting their first online Oxonmoot. Much like the in-person version, it is a whirlwind of talks, workshops and occasions to engage in very deep or very light conversations with persons you’ve just met.

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L’autre “Silmarillion” illustré : Francis Mosley pour la Folio Society

Cet article est la traduction de ma communication intitulée “The other illustrated Silmarillion: Francis Mosley for the Folio Society”, donnée lors du Tolkien Society Seminar le 4 juillet 2020. Vous pourrez retrouver la vidéo de mon intervention tout en bas de cet article.

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Francis Mosley and The Silmarillion – a talk in video

As I wrote about here, my paper was selected for the Tolkien Society Seminar 2020. The overall theme of the event was “Adapting Tolkien”, which could hardly be more fitting for my research. I took this opportunity to focus on a lesser-known illustrated book in my PhD corpus: The Silmarillion illustrated by Francis Mosley for the Folio Society in 1997.

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