VISIONARY AND NONCONFORMIST WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827) IS A SINGULAR FIGURE IN THE HISTORY OF WESTERN ART AND LITERATURE: A POET, PAINTER AND PRINT-MAKER. AMBITIOUSLY CREATIVE, BLAKE HAD AN ABIDING INTEREST IN THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY, WHICH, DURING THE AGE OF REVOLUTION, INSPIRED THOROUGHLY ORIGINAL AND PERSONAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE STATE OF MAN AND HIS SOUL. IN HIS LIFETIME BLAKE WAS BEST KNOWN AS AN ENGRAVER; HE WAS LATER RECOGNIZED FOR HIS INNOVATIONS ACROSS MANY OTHER DISCIPLINES. WILLIAM BLAKE'S WORLD: A NEW HEAVEN IS BEGUN -- THE SUBTITLE IS A QUOTE FROM BLAKE REFERRING TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DATE OF HIS BIRTH --- IS ON VIEW FROM 11.SEPTEMBER.2009 THROUGH 3.JANUARY.2010. IN THE MORGAN LIBRARY AND MUSUEM'S FIRST EXHIBITION DEVOTED TO BLAKE IN TWO DECADES, FORMER DIRECTOR CHARLES RYSKAMP AND CURATORS ANNA LOU ASHBY AND CARA DENISON HAVE ASSEMBLED MANY OF BLAKE'S MOST SPECTACULAR WATERCOLOURS, PRINTS, AND ILLUMINATED BOOKS OF POETRY TO DRAMATICALLY UNDERSCORE HIS GENIUS AND ENDURING INFLUENCE.
AMONG THE EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS IS BLAKE'S SUPERLATIVE WATERCOLOUR SERIES -- TWENTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE BOOK OF JOB AND TWELVE DESIGNS ILLUSTRATING MILTON'S L'ALLEGRO AND IL PENSEROSO -- OTHER IMPORTANT DRAWINGS ARE ON DISPLAY, INCLUDING FIRE WHICH ADDRESS THE SUBJECT OF WAR. THE MORE FULLY EXPRESSED 'CONTINENTAL PROPHECIES', A SERIES OF THREE ILLUMINATED BOOKS, FURTHER SHOWCASE BLAKE'S TALENTS AS A VISUAL ARTIST AND HIS PASSIONATE INTEREST IN POLITICS. BLAKE'S FAME AS A POET IS SEEN IN HIS FAIR COPY OF BALLADS KNOWN AS 'THE PICKERING MANUSCRIPT', NAMED AFTER ITS EARLY OWNER AND PUBLISHER. GIVING VOICE TO BLAKE'S WELL-KNOWN POEM 'AUGURIES OF INNOCENCE', FOUND IN THE MANUSCRIPT, IS THE ACTOR JEREMY IRONS, WHO HAS ALSO RECORDED THE SHORTER POEM,'TYGER'. THESE CAN BE HEARD ON A GALLERY LISTENING STATION AND ON THE MORGAN'S WEBSITE. ALSO ON VIEW IS THE ONLY DATED COPY OF BLAKE'S DRAMATIC 'THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL'.
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT http://www.themorgan.org
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