William Blake was unrecognized during his life and considered mad by most of his contemporaries. The London-born artist was critical of organized religion and held many idiosyncratic views for his day. Despite this, he was a self-proclaimed Christian which inspired many of his visual works.
Today, Blake is considered one of the most important poets in history, and his work as a painter and printmaker are celebrated for their originality. Blake’s visual art explores deep spiritual topics, and his style nearly defies classification. No surprise for someone who celebrated imagination as an essential element of human existence and claimed to see visions of angelic figures dancing in the trees as a child.
His originality is best exemplified by works like God Blessing The Seventh Day and The Great Red Dragon And The Woman Clothed In Sun, which use colour and an apparent lack of setting to create this otherworldly quality. His style suits his subject matter in a symbolic way that conveys a strong sense of his character and vision. His paintings make me wonder if he saw these scenes in a dream, living or awake, and captured them rather than conjuring them himself.
Lastly, paintings like Nebuchadnezzar, based on the character from the bible God punished with seven years of madness, indicate Blake may have possessed a sense of self-awareness and perhaps even concern regarding his mystical experiences. Though we may never know for sure, the mysterious qualities of this English artist certainly spur the imagination, I would guess, much to his approval.
November 9, 2021 at 9:59 pm
Chris,
Very good work on Blake here! What I like about your approach is your personal and unique thoughts on the artists you write about. A seamless mix of background information combined with your feelings about the artist in question. I’m giving you a 2/2 on this post. As well you scored 36/50 on your mid term quiz which translates to a B- which is not to bad.
Jeff