William Blake: The Artist

William Blake is a universal artist an inspiration to visual artists, musicians, poets and performers worldwide as well as everyone who aspires to the ideals of personal, spiritual and creative liberty. His heroic story has inspired and invigorated generations: his personal struggles in a period of political terror and oppression, his technical innovation, his vision and political commitment, are perhaps never more pertinent. This book presents Blake as a visual artist for the twenty-first century. Accompanying the first major survey of William Blake s work to be held since 2000, William Blake: the Artist presents a comprehensive overview of his work as a printmaker, poet and painter, foregrounding his relationship with the art world of his time and telling the stories behind some of the most iconic images in the history of British art. The chronological narrative and biographical focus helps the reader understand the life and the historical forces at work; and provides a framework for presenting up-to-date scholarship with an emphatically art historical (rather than literary) focus. Chapters include: 1. Blake, be an Artist! - Blake and the Academy, aspiring to history painting 2. Prophetic and Visionary art - Blake in the 1790s Illuminated Books, Songs of Innocence and Experience, America, Europe, Newton 3. Blake among the Civil Servants - Blake s patrons and their boring day jobs watercolours and paintings of 1790s and 1800s / Visions of Albion -1800-3, turning point in his career as a visionary artist, Milton and Jerusalem begun [this was two separate chapters but Martin and Amy plan to elide the two parts into one] 4. Fresco Painting Restored key exhibition and publication projects, 1808-1812 the failed 1809 exhibition Blake s aspirations as a public artist 5. Hidden Blake late works, retiring from the world but rediscovered by a new generation (Dante Illustrations, Jerusalem)