10/4/2000
William Blake
Helsinski City Art Museum, Helsinki
The exhibition of the English artist, poet and mystic William
Blake (1757-1827) at Helsinki City Art Museum is
exceptionally to the point at the beginning of the new
millennium. Few artists can be said to have been ahead of
their times as Blake. Indeed, Blake, who in his own era
received almost no recognition, said himself that his public
was the Children of the Future Age.
Born in London in 1757, William Blake's thinking was much
influenced by the French Revolution, which was generally
regarded as a sign of the dawning of a new age in Europe.
Blake saw himself primarily as a prophet, for whom art was a
way of bringing about a change in mankind and thereby in
society. Blake's themes ranged from social injustices and
lack of love to spiritual emptiness – problems which are now,
over 200 years later, still as topical and universal as they
were then. For Blake, true divinity comes from human nature,
when it awakens to the reality of its visionary powers:
Imagination or the Divine Body in Every Man.
Blake is perhaps best known for his lyrical works, such as
the Songs of Innocence and The Tyger. In recent years,
however, his reputation has become increasingly bound with
his prophetic works and their world of idiosyncratic
mythology. Blake is also famous for his luminous
watercolours and engravings illustrating the Bible, Dante and
other authors. The uniqueness of Blake's works stems from
the way in which they integrate text and design into a
seamless whole. His training as a commercial engraver
enabled him to experiment with the techniques of
printmaking, which he undertook along with his creative
artistic and poetic work. The method developed by Blake
enabled him to integrate drawing, painting and text on a
single plate, and in his poetic works, plants, animals and
human spirits cavort among the words, or words appear
seamlessly among the designs.
This exhibition consist of 137 works from the extensive Blake
collection in the British Museum. There are original
illuminated books on display along with watercolours and
prints produced using a variety of techniques, as well as
other related material. Most of the works are exhibited for the
first time outside Great Britain, now in Helsinki and later next
autumn in the Prague Castle. The works in the exhibition
were selected by Professor David Bindman and Simon
Baker, who also wrote texts for the catalogue. The exhibition
is produced by the British Museum and is supported by the
British Council. Helsinki is a European City of Culture in
2000. The exhibition is part of the year of culture programme.
Helsinski City Art Museum
Salomonkatu 15
Helsinski,
FI Finland
Tel. 310 87 002
Telefax 310 87000