What's in carpenter's glue? [William Blake: Visionary by Edina Adam; Julian Brooks]

A richly illustrated, comprehensive introduction to the visionary British artist William Blake.
 
Celebrated for his boundless imagination and unique vision, William Blake (1757–1827) created some of the most striking and distinctive imagery in art, often combining his poetry and visual images on the page through innovative graphic techniques. He has proven an enduring inspiration to artists, musicians, poets, and performers worldwide and a fascinating enigma to generations of admirers.
 
Featuring over 130 color images, this catalogue brings together many of Blake’s most iconic works. Organized by theme, it explores Blake’s work as a professional printmaker, his roles as both painter-illustrator and poet-painter, his relationship to the medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque artists that preceded him, and his legacy in the United States. It also examines his visionary prophetic books, including all eighteen plates of America a Prophecy.

Presumably meant to accompany the respective Getty Museum exhibition (originally set to run July 21-October 11, 2020), William Blake: Visionary is a collection of  some of the artists' most notable plates and illustrations, which additional contemporaneous pieces included for added historical context. With essays from curators Edina Adam and Julian Brooks, the books is a quick and succinct introduction to the artist, his work, and his life. Thematic groupings of plates are preceded with a quick contextual introduction for the works and their place in the framework Blake's career, life, and legacy.

The illustrations are lovely. This book caught my attention because of loose recollected familiarity with the artist, but this was a lovely expansion and introduction to his broader body of work. Though I was not previously familiar with Blake through his art, more likely with general recognition of the name and his historical importance as an artist and poet, having read Visionary in its entirety I'm a growing fan. I'd love to have this in a library as a collection of his artistry (better than trying to build a collection, I'm too poor), but also an art history reference. 4 stars from me.

William Blake: Visionary has an anticipated publication date of August 04, 2020.