Joseph Viscomi – författare

An in-depth examination of William Blake’s glorious and acclaimed series of twelve monoprintsAmong William Blake’s (1757–1827) most widely recognized and highly regarded works as an artist are twelve color printed drawings, or monoprints, conceived and executed in 1795. This book investigates these masterworks, explaining Blake’s technique—one he essentially reinvented, unaware of 17th-century precursors—to show that these works were produced as paintings, and played a crucial role in Blake’s development as a painter. Using material and historical analyses, Joseph Viscomi argues that the monoprints were created as autonomous paintings rather than as illustrations for Blake’s books with an intended viewing order. Enlivened with bountiful illustrations, the text approaches the works within the context of their time, not divorced from ideas expressed in Blake’s writings but not illustrative of or determined by those writings.Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

William Blake’s engraved illustrations of the Book of Job are masterpieces of intaglio art. Dated 1825 in the plate and published the following year, they were based on his watercolours of the same subject from 1806 (Morgan Library, New York) and 1821 (Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard). Unlike the watercolours, the prints have complex marginal decorations that comment upon the biblical text. They are among the most inspired and sublime artistic achievements of this visionary artist and poet of the British Romantic period. This handsome volume reproduces the Royal Academy’s copy of John Linnell’s 1874 printing, which comprised 100 copies on India paper laid on unmarked heavy paper. Katharine Dell, Professor of Old Testament Literature and Theology at the University of Cambridge, introduces the biblical text, and Joseph Viscomi, Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-editor of the Blake Archive, gives an account of the creation of Blake’s engravings. The 22 illustrations are reproduced at actual size from new photographs especially taken for this publication and are accompanied by a series of magnificent details of the prints.