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Nina Zivancevic and Nial Mc Devitt
William Blake I Still Go On Till the Heavens and Earth are Gone is on view at the Tate Britain through June 1.
William Blake. Nebuchadnezzar, 1795 / c1805. Courtesy of The Tate Britain.There is a special display at London’s Tate Britain, the show that marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Blake, one of the world’s greatest visionaries, painters, and poets. The Tate created the first ever Blake Gallery in the 1920s and since then, the Tate has played a very important part in presenting Blake to an international audience. This display includes Blake’s works from the excellent permanent collection. In addition, a highlight is the exhibition’s display of the privately-loaned, recently-discovered works which have never before been exhibited. There are his engravings on paper, which Blake made for the Christmas Annual including The Hiding of Moses, 1824, a relief etching of the poem Jerusalem and numerous beautiful watercolors with pen and ink illustrations from Dante’s Divine Comedy, which was translated by Henry Cary. The Tate has 20 illustrations out of 102 from The Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament all on display here. There are magnificent drawings of death done on the them including an immaculate watercolor The Death of the Virgin, 1803, and a pencil drawing of The Soul Hovering over the Body, 1805. There are his exquisite works in tempera and gold such as The Ghost of a Flea and The Bard, a painting done after Thomas Gray’s poem.
The Tate has done a very good job at illustrating the most minute details of Blake’s life and times. There are recordings of his friendships and relationships with other poets and artists such as Henry Fuseli and Constable. Here we learn of the unflinching support given to the impoverished artist by Constable who took care of Blake’s widow, Catherine, long after the poet was gone. We see Blake’s very elaborate plates from the illuminated books such as Jerusalem, 1820) and the first Book of Urizen, which are color prints made out of relief-etched copper plate and finished with watercolor and black ink. These images are laden with Blake’s symbols—good in constant struggle with evil, and heaven with hell—all of which underline the constant Blakean theme that “everything is an attempt to be human.” Blake’s symbols were quite thoroughly deciphered by a Blake scholar, S.F. Damon, in 1914, but Blake’s role as a poet still remains to be evaluated. In his quest for truth, and his search for God, Blake painted the works The Good and Evil Angels, God Judging Adam, and Satan Exulting over Eve; he never failed to condemn the lack of spirituality in men, and perhaps his most important and most troubling works include representations of men who failed to see God. This fact is exemplified by works such as Newton and Nebuchadnezzar. Blake was one of those rare artists who understood human psychology in terms of our experiences of childhood and innocence. Among other original books and objects created by the visionary, we find here his illustrations for children books such as The Gates of Paradise, 1793, and The Songs of Innocence.
As part of the Tate’s contribution to this anniversary celebration it has also published a rare facsimile of William Blake’s first printed book of poems, The Poetical Sketches of 1783, from a copy that includes the author’s handwritten corrections. However, it is important to notice that the museum was not the only institution paying homage to William Blake’s anniversary. In the same city of London a series of interesting events, performances, and individual tributes have been paid to this exceptional artist.
As I write, I am sitting at the baptismal font of St. James Church in Piccadilly to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Blake’s christening. Other Blakeans are assembling. The church is a masterpiece designed by Christopher Wren. The font is a masterpiece carved in marble by Grinling Gibbons. As Blake wrote: "Jesus and his Apostles & Disciples were all artists… A poet, a painter, a musician, an architect: the man or woman who is not one of these is not a Christian." Patti Smith suggested it would be a good idea to mark December 11 with an event, and a few poets and artists have taken up her invitation. This afternoon, an ice sculpture by Martin Sexton is balancing in the font with a candle on top. Incense is burning.
Blake was a non-Conformist who spent most of his artistic life waging a mental war against the Church of England and the monarchy and parliament for which it stood bastion. Today the Church of England is a Blakean operation and succeeds in wooing congregations by doubling up as art galleries, concert halls, theaters, etc. Even the poetic vanguard sticks its head in occasionally.
Avant-guarde poets tend to be hip to Blake. Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelites, Yeats, and the Symbolists epitomized the 19th century discovery of Blake. Ginsberg and the Beats epitomized the 20th century rediscovery of Blake. In 21st century London the poetic avant-garde roughly divides into two camps: Marxists and Shamanists, both hostile, but both united in their admiration for Blake. Another factor which unites both camps is the magic word coined by the Situationists: “psychogeography.” Blake is seen retrospectively as one of the great psychogeographical poets of London, who in some songs and in the epics The Four Zoas and Jerusalem transforms the city into visionary territory.
My “William Blake Walk” is a four-hour drift through the central London sites where Blake lived, worked and studied—an invaluable aid for novices and experts alike. Thanks to the general interest in psychogeography the humble literary walk is fast becoming the new rock ‘n’ roll. Some of these Blake sites are perfect for poetry readings and performances. The Soho site of his birth on the corner of Marshall Street and Broadwick Street, with its William Blake House tower-block, its exquisite bronze triptych William Blake Memorial by John W. Mills, its courtyard and steps, and its sounding board wall across the street is not only a Blake amphitheatre but a Blake temple. For Blakeans, it’s Bethlehem. On November 28, we held an all day street party/poetry reading/concert/exhibition fuelled with Rose Cava.
We see Blake as the first urban shaman of the first industrial city, London’s technician of the sacred, or as John Gibbens puts it "a basic source of renewable energy." 60 like-minded creatives have collaborated on The William Blake Birthday Book, each contributing a page of illuminated text. "Poetry, painting, and music are the three ways of conversing with God," said Blake. Poet Brian Catling, painter Tom Phillips, and musician Robin Williamson are a few of the major figures involved. Only 250 are available. Blake is—like Rimbaud—an icon of rebellion, who can never be fully assimilated, but whose genius is ever-present. When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair as Prime Minsiter, a car-full of explosives was spotted parked outside a nightclub. From this event we are left to deduce that either Al Quaeda are reading Blake, or— if it’s a state stunt—the British establishment are reading him. One poem contains the key word “terrors,” and one shudders to think of the new meaning it would have taken on if the device had gone off, killing revellers. Strangely now, in the opposite corner of St. James, a tiny Church of England service is being delivered by a vicar on a side altar to a congregation of three. Here at the font there is a congregation of 11 and the poems and guitars are coming out. The result is expressed in words: "The Vision of Christ that thou dost see/ Is my Vision’s greatest enemy…"
