Drawings of William Blake: 92 Pencil Studies

by William Blake, Geoffrey L. Keynes (Editor)

From hasty sketches to remarkably detailed first drafts, these plates show the full range of Blake's troubled genius. Composed in the first flush of creativity, 92 plates showcase the artist's finest pencil drawings, selected from Book of Job, Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, visionary heads, mythological figures, Laocoön, and more.

Genres: Art

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1970

About the author

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake's work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.

Blake's prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the language". His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced." Although he only once travelled any further than a day's walk outside London over the course of his life, his creative vision engendered a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced 'imagination' as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".

Once considered mad for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is highly regarded today for his expressiveness and creativity, and the philosophical and mystical currents that underlie his work. His work has been characterized as part of the Romantic movement, or even "Pre-Romantic", for its largely having appeared in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the established Church, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Emanuel Swedenborg.

Despite these known influences, the originality and singularity of Blake's work make it difficult to classify. One 19th century scholar characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary", "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors."

Reviews

[Aslı Can]

Most of the drawings are unfinished and so blurred. Blake's drawings, like his poems, are chaotic. And they have almost same effect with his poems. They reflect Blake's relationship with religions, mythic characters, angels, satan and Jesus. And seeing the reflections of this relationship make me feel miserable.

["Robert Ekberg" · Rating 3 out of 5]

dukti på och rita

[J.S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not really that useful as a reference or source of information.
JS