From Somewhere in Time

No, no, I don't think Lewis Carroll would really have approved of graffiti. This is one of my possible page headers for other pages on this site (if you check the different pages you'll see they each have a different version of the same picture on). But this is a blog post about art.

And frankly I'm getting behind on blogs and everything else but I'm still in time to recommend the V & A's study day about Lewis Carroll. Click the link to find out more n celebration of the 150th anniversary of the origin of Lewis Carroll's Alice. It's an event co-organised by the Lewis Carroll Society. In case you haven't taken a look at their website lately, it does have a lot about the event (but they have all kinds of other good things on offer, too).

And some crucial information - A concessionary rate is available to members of The Lewis Carroll Society (£35) ... this is available by ringing 020 7942 2211. AND the V&A has just announced a special offer for anyone attending this event. If you buy a ticket you may bring a guest free!

I hope that I'm not too late! Leontien is battling cancer and fellow bloggers are giving her a bunch of flowers.

I received some very cute and pretty Japanese postcards from Yoshi. One of them is signed on the back for me, which is a bonus. At the top of this post is my favourite one, which shows Alice with the Dodo on a bridge. It makes me think somehow of "The Owl and the Pussy Cat" by Edward Lear. Lear was another Victorian nonsense poet, and although I like his verse, I far prefer Lewis Carroll's.

My second favourite card shows several Wonderland characters having a tea party. It doesn't really depict an actual scene from the book, but I like the composition and the quaintness of the characters. Here it is:



And here are all four of the postcards, laid out on my table top...

For those who have never seen it, here is the Easter Greeting from Lewis Carroll. As most people know, he was a very devout man, and a Reverend. The picture above is of the church of St. Margaret, S. Elmham, Suffolk, seen from the old rectory drive. Carroll's brand of religion is no longer fashionable, but scenes like this would have been very familiar to him, as they can't have changed much in the last 150 years. Happy Easter everyone!
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AN EASTER GREETING FROM LEWIS CARROLL


Please to fancy, if you can, that you are reading a real letter, from a real friend whom you have seen, and whose voice you can seem to yourself to hear wishing you, as I do now with all my heart, a happy Easter.

Do you know that delicious dreamy feeling when one first wakes on a summer morning, with the twitter of birds in the air, and the fresh breeze coming in at the open window--when, lying lazily with eyes half shut, one sees as in a dream green boughs waving, or waters rippling in a golden light? It is a pleasure very near to sadness, bringing tears to one's eyes like a beautiful picture or poem. And is not that a Mother's gentle hand that undraws your curtains, and a Mother's sweet voice that summons you to rise? To rise and forget, in the bright sunlight, the ugly dreams that frightened you so when all was dark--to rise and enjoy another happy day, first kneeling to thank that unseen Friend, who sends you the beautiful sun?

Are these strange words from a writer of such tales as "Alice"? And is this a strange letter to find in a book of nonsense? It may be so. Some perhaps may blame me for thus mixing together things grave and gay; others may smile and think it odd that any one should speak of solemn things at all, except in church and on a Sunday: but I think--nay, I am sure--that some children will read this gently and lovingly, and in the spirit in which I have written it.

For I do not believe God means us thus to divide life into two halves--to wear a grave face on Sunday, and to think it out-of-place to even so much as mention Him on a week-day. Do you think He cares to see only kneeling figures, and to hear only tones of prayer--and that He does not also love to see the lambs leaping in the sunlight, and to hear the merry voices of the children, as they roll among the hay? Surely their innocent laughter is as sweet in His ears as the grandest anthem that ever rolled up from the "dim religious light" of some solemn cathedral?

And if I have written anything to add to those stores of innocent and healthy amusement that are laid up in books for the children I love so well, it is surely something I may hope to look back upon without shame and sorrow (as how much of life must then be recalled!) when my turn comes to walk through the valley of shadows.

This Easter sun will rise on you, dear child, feeling your "life in every limb," and eager to rush out into the fresh morning air--and many an Easter-day will come and go, before it finds you feeble and gray-headed, creeping wearily out to bask once more in the sunlight--but it is good, even now, to think sometimes of that great morning when the "Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings."

Surely your gladness need not be the less for the thought that you will one day see a brighter dawn than this--when lovelier sights will meet your eyes than any waving trees or rippling waters--when angel-hands shall undraw your curtains, and sweeter tones than ever loving Mother breathed shall wake you to a new and glorious day--and when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past!

Your affectionate friend,

LEWIS CARROLL.

EASTER, 1876.

Some of you may know Oleg Lipchenko, who has done some fab Alice illustrations. I met him in New York and found him very nice and very interesting. He has a new show on in Toronto dealing with Freud - hm, would have been interesting if Freud and Carroll had met, don't you think?

">Here's the link to his show, so if you are in the Toronto area, do wander along and take a look.

By the way, I'm disabling comments again. All comments are moderated, but I'm getting floods of comment notifications for junk, and this blog is clearly on the list of organisations that pay a few cents for people to fill in junky comments and captchas.

Half of me says, why not let them carry on doing it and wasting their money? The other half of me doesn't like getting all the comment notification emails, so I have to pay attention to this spam.

I'm always glad to hear from you, of course, and so if you want to fill in the comment form and contact me that way, I'll certainly read what you have to say. Meanwhile, do come and take a look at my other blog, here, which is pretty active.

In the quaint little old church at Vowchurch, in Herefordshire, I found this - a photograph of Skeffington, Lewis Carroll's brother, who was vicar there over a hundred years ago.

Carroll spent a lot of time and trouble trying to sort Skeffington out. Skeffington today might have been diagnosed with some kind of problem - perhaps Asberger Syndrome. He liked doing the same thing over and over again, but was very kind and affectionate. He failed his exams and had great difficulty settling down in a job, but he remained very persistent.

His children were very fond of him, despite his funny ways, and his marriage was happy. In fact, in some ways, he was the one out of eleven Dodgson children who lived what we might call a normally happy life, married to someone he loved, in a job he liked, in an environment that suited him. He loved to fish in the local river - fishing, too, was a hobby he had persisted with all his life.

I closed comments on this blog a year or two ago because I was getting plagued by spam. Although I moderated comments, it was such a chore. I'll see if the spammers have gone away. (I suspect many readers of the blog have gone away by now, too!)

I've just last week received a very nice PLR cheque, so the book is being borrowed from libraries, but I'm now moved on to other projects so I haven't been keeping this blog up as much as I did a while back when I was involved with the book. (Check out my other blog, www.jennywoolftravel.blogspot.com)

But of course I'm still interested in Mr. Dodgson and his life. The picture above shows him in his early twenties, in pensive mood.

And here's the latest circular from the Lewis Carroll Society in London
This is to remind you that on the 16 March we will have one of our popular meetings comprising short talks by members actively engaged in research.

Ella Parry-Davies's talk, 'Unframing Wonderland' looks at how the Soviet cultural context and a range of exciting Alice illustrations by Russian artists shed a new light on the nature and the importance of Nonsense, and on the relationship between words and images in the illustrated book.

In preparation for this Summer's 150th anniversary celebration of the original telling of 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground', Selwyn Goodacre has been examining the original 'Alice' manuscript and the various facsimile editions that have been produced.

Franziska Kohlt's talk, 'Victorian Wonderlands Revisited', presents an outline of her Ph.D research, which explores the travels to fantastic realms in alternative states of mind in Victorian literature.

It should be an entertaining and thought-provoking evening.

Talks begin at 19:00 (NB please arrive after 18:15)

And please take careful note of the venue!

Gradidge Room (upstairs)
Art Workers' Guild
6 Queen Square
London
WC1N 3AT.

I've just been to Spain and been admiring all the carnival costumes there. I specially like the ones for children - like this little fish....



And of course, Alice, alongside a flamenco dancer and a fireman - what else?

I've seen plenty of Alice in Wonderland cakes and cupcakes, but these are some of the best. I spotted them in an interesting blog called "Fairy Tale News" - go to this link and you'll see more.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas - and I wonder if anyone got such a splendid Alice present as I did! My friend Marjorie is a wonderful stitcher (here is a link to her blog) and she made our whole family a set of beautiful stitched Alice characters, which will certainly be decorating the tree next year. We had one character each - I had the caterpillar



and T. had Tweedledum and Tweedledee (which you can see above).

Here is the Herald -


One of my favorite characters - The Mad Hatter in all his lovely detail...



And no prizes for guessing this one - she has something of the look of the Tim Burton character about her.



I thought at first this central character was the White Rabbit, but then I realised he wasn't white (duh)



In fact, I don't believe there was a White Rabbit. (Oh - my friend Andrew Sellon just pointed out that he was the Herald)

The Cheshire Cat was a little thinner than I always imagine him, but I love his ruff....



My mother had Alice herself - I'll photograph her next time I visit!

We were all thrilled by our characters, and they created a real sensation during our Christmas celebrations.