I went to the "Alice in Wonderland Exhibition" currently being held at the Matsuzakaya Museum of Art in Sakae, Nagoya!

August 20, 2024

The more you research Alice in Wonderland, the more interesting it becomes!

Which Alice character do you like best?

Of course, there's Alice, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat (this cat always reminds me of the Cat Bus. The Cheshire Cat also disappears. Of course, it's not sarcasm, no. I think it's an homage...). Oh, I forgot about Humpty Dumpty.

I remember Humpty Dumpty coming up in English class a long time ago.

It seems like I'm starting off on a fast track, but that just shows how interesting the "Alice in Wonderland Exhibition" was! It's definitely worth a visit.

I love art and often go to art exhibitions, but I almost never go on the first day. However, this time, I felt a sense of obligation to go on the first day, so I went to the venue just in time for the opening. Actually, people were filling up one after another from the morning.

The age range was wide, from teenagers to people in their 60s , but there were overwhelmingly more women than men. Rather than families, it seemed like there were a lot of Alice-loving adults and students who seemed interested.

This exhibition had been held in other areas before arriving here, and it seemed that some visitors had been to those venues and were also participating in the Nagoya exhibition. I was surprised.

This "Alice in Wonderland Exhibition" is a special exhibition commemorating the 160th anniversary of the book's publication.

Approximately 250 items are on display, including precious original color illustrations from Macmillan, the British publisher of the Alice stories.

The idea behind this project is to compare and examine how four famous illustrators depict the same scene, and whether there are any differences between them, so that viewers can enjoy feeling and thinking about it for themselves.

Illustrations drawn by the author Lewis Carroll are also on display here and there, which is also worth noting. You can get a sense of the efforts made by the author, Lewis Carroll, who was by no means a very talented artist, when Alice Liddell, the young girl who was the model for the story, asked him to turn it into a book. (I'll tell you more about this anecdote later.)

The wavering hearts of adults...

Hmm, I won't delve too deeply into this.

So, let's all doze off together and fall into a deep hole into Alice's world!

Most important: Who was Lewis Carroll?

This is important. It's information about the author.

Lewis Carroll is not his real name, it's a pen name.

His real name was Charles Ludwig Dodson (although some books state his name as Dodgson, we will use the name Dodson here to match the convention used in the exhibition).

Dodson was born on January 27 , 1832. He was a man of great influence during the Victorian era in England, the height of the Industrial Revolution.

He achieved excellent results at Christ Church, Oxford, and was a successful mathematician, publishing papers and using his real name, Charles Ludwigge Dodson, but as a story writer he called himself Lewis Carroll.

This was due to the nature of the field of mathematics, and he felt uncomfortable publishing fictional stories (fantastic children's literature) under one name, and he did not want to be judged by his name, so he decided to use two names.

Lewis Carroll's name is actually his real name, which has been turned into Latin and mumbled into English by rearranging the letters. He was quite an obsessive person and seemed to like making things.

How did "Alice in Wonderland" come about?

(This is a copy of "Alice's Adventures Under Ground," written and illustrated by Lewis Carroll himself. The original is on display at the British Museum.)

Alice in Wonderland is based on a book written by Lewis Carroll called Alice's Adventures Underground, which he wrote as a gift for himself.

The book was born out of Lewis Carroll's interactions with the children of the Liddell family, warden of Christ Church, with whom he was close.

Lewis' relationship with the Liddell family began when he asked him, who had learned photography (photography was not something that anyone could do; it was a skill that required studying the process from taking the picture to developing it), to take photographs of their children.

Filming in those days was very difficult, and you had to stay still in front of the camera for several seconds to get the picture. It was a miracle that three or four children could stay still for that long. Lewis seems to have had to retake the picture several times.

The three Liddell daughters, including Lewis Carroll and Alice, became good friends in this way and went boating together on the river on July 4 , 1862 .

At this point, Alice and her friends asked Lewis to tell them an interesting story, so Lewis improvised one with Alice as the main character.

The story must have touched the hearts of Alice and her friends, because before they went home that night, Alice asked Lewis to write a book about the day, and he agreed. At this time, Lewis was 30 years old and Alice was about 10 years old.

Nowadays, no matter how well-connected a child is from their home, going out to play with adults is just a sign of the times.

Hmm, what was going through their minds? We don't know now. Lewis Carroll and his three daughters (especially Alice) seemed to be on good terms, including this boating trip. What do you think?

Was she beginning to have feelings for Lewis that were more than just friendship?

According to the law of the time, girls could marry at the age of 12 .

From Alice Underground to Alice in Wonderland

(Illustration by professional illustrator John Tenniel for the published version of "Alice in Wonderland." Alice meets the rabbit and falls into a deep hole.)

Apparently, Alice had begged him to turn it into a book, so he started writing the next day. However, since he was improvising the story, he added more stories and drew illustrations as he remembered them to make the story more coherent.

It is said that, since he was not particularly good at drawing, he ordered many reference materials on animals to illustrate the books. This shows his earnest nature.

It took about two years to complete.

(Above is an illustration by Lewis Carroll.)

This exhibition also features some of Lewis Carroll's illustrations .

I can feel that he worked hard on this drawing for Alice. Good job, Lewis!

However, after giving Alice "Alice's Adventures Under Ground" to her, when the topic of publishing came up, she decided to ask a professional to do the illustrations, and so she asked John Tenniel, a best-selling illustrator at the time, to do the illustrations.

Of course, this person is one of the main characters of the exhibition at the Matsuzakaya Art Exhibition.

(This big bird is the Dodo. It is a real bird, but it is now extinct. Alice gives the animals the candy and thimble she found in her apron, and the Dodo gives her a thimble in return. In the Victorian era, thimbles were an essential item for girls.)

I've written quite a lot so it's time to wake up from my slumber.

I'll talk about illustrator John Tenniel in my next blog.

I'll write it right away.

I actually went to the "Alice in Wonderland" exhibition twice.

I find myself smiling when I watch it. It's fun.

Although the pictures are illustrations, they are of course drawn in great detail, and it's amazing to think that they were printed with the printing technology of the late 1800s .

John Tenniel's original drawings are sketches, but other illustrators have drawn and colored based on John Tenniel's original drawings.

Alice's dress is usually thought of as light blue, but depending on the illustrator, it may be red or light blue.

In Alice Through the Looking Glass, she is wearing a headband, and I wondered why that was.

I felt that both the story and the illustrations are children's literature that still has the power to stimulate the imagination.

I also thought that the enjoyment I felt was probably due to the fact that the illustrations by John Tenniel and others acted as a kind of narrator to complement Lewis Carroll's story, and that this made it so enjoyable.

This is an exhibition I would definitely recommend to see this summer. Oh! One thing I would like you to see at the venue is the black and white silent film " Alice in Wonderland " from 1915 , which is being shown on a monitor.

You can see about the first 10 minutes. Once you start watching, you'll be drawn in. There are chairs available for resting. There are 250 pieces on display, so it's best to take a break and relax.

Merchandise Introduction Part 1

Now, let me introduce some of the items I purchased, carefully selected from the wide range of options available.

I can't introduce all the items I purchased this time in one post, so I will divide it into two.

First, it's a drawstring bag with a big ribbon. It's cute. The white rabbit print is really nice. There's an inner pocket and the gusset is a little over 8 cm. The price is 3,960 yen including tax.

Next up, wooden postcards, which have been increasing at exhibitions recently. This one features Alice and the Cheshire Cat. 880 yen including tax.

Please note that the piece of wood for the base is my own. I think it was there, although it may have been an oversight.

This is a Dodo clear file. A5 size. 495 yen including tax.

Crystal hair clip. Made of beautiful glass. 660 yen including tax.

The "Alice in Wonderland" exhibition in Sakae, Nagoya is being held at the Matsuzakaya Museum of Art until Saturday, September 21st . It is open every day during the exhibition period. This is a recommended exhibition for everyone who likes cute things, not to mention Alice fans. In addition, the venue is cool.