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William Blake
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Paul Nash
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William Blake: The Painter at Work Hardcover – January 25, 2004

by Joyce H. Townsend (Editor)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
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William Blake: The Painter at Work offers an innovative and revealing approach to one of the most individual of all British artists. Although the highly idiosyncratic nature of Blake's techniques has long been recognized, this is the first book to explore the practical methods behind his unique style--providing a fuller understanding of exactly how this secretive artist worked as a painter.



Richly illustrated with Blake’s temperas, watercolors, and color prints and drawings, the book includes essays by leading international authorities who illuminate Blake’s techniques and materials using up-to-the-minute research methods. Their analysis of numerous individual works reveals, for example, that Blake used essentially the same range of colors in them all, even if some of the more than 100 temperas he painted from 1799 to 1826 have since darkened or faded.



The book consists of four main sections. Introductory chapters are followed by essays on Blake’s watercolors, large color prints, and temperas. An epilogue discusses the presentation of the paintings, and appendices provide more detail on the works discussed. The contributors are John Anderson, Peter Bower, Noa Cahaner McManus, John Dean, Robin Hamlyn, Bronwyn Ormsby, Brian Singer, Joyce H. Townsend, and Piers Townshend.



William Blake: The Painter at Work not only casts new light on the incomparable oeuvre that made Blake one of the most perennially popular of visual artists but also points to ways of preserving this work for future generations. There are still unanswered questions, but now there are answers too.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Princeton University Press
  4. Publication date
    January 25, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    8.5 x 0.75 x 10.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0691119104
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0691119106
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Conservation scientist Joyce H. Townsend is the Tate Museum's answer to coroner Gus Grissom on TV's CSI. Only instead of solving murders, she sleuths out the violence done to great art. In this book, she and her colleagues explain the horrors time, faded pigments, and dumb owners have visited on Blake's paintings, use a slew of high-tech techniques to deduce his methods and open our eyes to his original intentions. If you haven't read this book, you probably don't know what Blake's work looks like. Skillfully employing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, lasers, Fourier transform infra-red spectrometry, and good old-fashioned saliva on a cotton swab, they scrub away dirt, yellowed varnish, and moronic overpaintings, and reveal how Blake wanted you to see. A tiny edge of blue indicates the firmament that Satan originally strode through in the now-yellowed Satan in His Original Glory. The chemical "Maillard reaction" has horribly browned The Ghost of a Flea; a small detail illustration reveals the original brilliant, star-studded blue Blake intended. The detective work is fascinating, and the profuse illustrations both technically and esthetically illuminating. Blake would have sung hosannas over this book: it cleanses the doors of perception. --Tim Appelo

Review

"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004"

"Shortlisted for the 2006 Historians of British Art Book Prize, Multi-authored/Edited Volume category, College Art Association"

"

First-rate color and black-and-white illustrations including scientific
details add to this valuable, first rate study and important contribution.

" ― Choice

"William Blake himself said 'You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.' While those with a general interest in Blake may find here a surfeit of detail regarding the painter and poet's technique, for Blake experts, painters, and conservationists this will be just enough." ― Library Journal

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press; F First Edition Used (January 25, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691119104
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691119106
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.75 x 10.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

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  1. William Blake

    William Blake

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    Blake was a poet, painter, engraver and mystic.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Paul Nash

    Paul Nash

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Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
3 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Malamati
5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Information on Blake's Methods of Painting
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2015
I don't yet own a copy of this book...have just examined after obtaining from a library. It's expensive! It's also a wonderful compendium of detailed information on Blake's knowledge and deployment of painting techniques--which are much less often discussed than his methods of engraving and the preparatory phases of the etched "illuminated books." Joyce Townsend seems to be a bona fide expert in materials and techniques of painting, and for anyone curious about how Blake produced his paintings, this book is probably the most authoritative and detailed out there. It clearly supersedes earlier (and still useful) works by Bindman, Paley, and others who did not have access to the analytic technology and more recent information that were used in the production of this volume. Blake was known to be extremely meticulous in his choice of methods and in his execution, and this book does justice to that attention to "minute particulars." There is even a detailed discussion of the types of papers available to Blake for his printing projects, and this sheds light on how thoroughly he addressed all aspects of his artistic production. And naturally there are very detailed discussions of his use of watercolor and tempera. The color production and printing by Tate Publishing (printed in Hong Kong by South Sea International Press, in the copy I have seen) is quite good--but I'm intrigued by the possibility that there may be a Taschen version out there, too (have seen listed on Amazon.de). This is clearly a specialty book that will be of interest to Blake students and researchers, art historians, and Blake lovers who would like to better understand how the artist approached and solved the technical demands of transferring his envisioned images to paper and other surfaces. Highly recommended.
4 people found this helpful
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M. Paley
5.0 out of 5 stars indispensable
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2007
Verified Purchase
An indispenasable book for those interested in the latest research
on William Blake's techniques as an artist.
2 people found this helpful
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