Reading Blake's designs

William Blake's art has traditionally been interpreted in terms of his poetry, and governed by the assumption that his designs are visualizations of his own poetic myth. In this innovative study, Christopher Heppner constructs a new assessment and interpretation of Blake as illustrator of texts other than his own. Such topics as Blake's handling of human figures and the signifying power of their gestures, his relationship to Michelangelo, and his attitude towards perspective and the conventions of pictorial representation are brought to bear on the 1795 color prints, the illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts, and the illustrations to the Bible. Heppner concludes with an extended reading of The Sea of Time and Space which differs markedly from previous approaches to the work. A large number of illustrations, including a color-plate section, accompanies this new interpretation of a complex artist.