“Śôcesñ mr ɖn wn hundṛd wrcs bî sm v Britn’z grtst artists”
“Đ xbiśn v Grt Britiś Drw̃z cn onli scrać ɖ srfis v ɖ xtrordnri rićz v ɖ Aśmołn’z c̣lẋnz. It wl pṛvîd ɖ vizitr wɖ an unpaṛleld oṗtyṇti t xplor ɖ amezñ vrayti v drw̃ in Britn, from ɖ rapid sceć in pensl or pen, t ɖ most hîli ròt wōtrculr.” Colin Harisn, Sīńr Kretr v Yṛpiyn Art
John Sell Cotman: A Ruined House, watercolour over graphite, Ashmolean
Thomas Rowlandson: The Corsican, his two friends and his blood hounds. Pen and brown ink and watercolour over indications in graphite
Thomas Rowlandson: The Portrait Painter’s Ante-room, 1809
Joseph Mallord William Turner: Venice: The Riva degli Schiavoni, 1840
Samuel Palmer: Tintagel Castle: Approaching Rain, c. 1848‒1849
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Louisa Ruth Herbert, 1858
Max Beerbohm: Oscar Wilde, 1894
Anna Alma-Tadema: Girl in a Bonnet with her Head on a Blue Pillow, 1902
Walter Richard Sickert: Study for ‘Ennui’: Hubby and Marie, c.1913
Lawrence Stephen Lowry: Street in Ramsbottom, 1954
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (c.1595), Nicholas Hilliard
Lucy, Countess of Bedford (c.1606), Isaac Oliver
Lake Nemi (c.1788) John Robert Cozens
Shakespeare Cliff, Dover (c. 1825), J. M. W. Turner
The Magic Apple Tree (c. 1830), Samuel Palmer
Venice, Storm at Sunset. Turner, Joseph Mallord William (British, 1775-1851). Watercolour and bodycolour with pen and red ink and scratching out on paper, 1840-1842.
Still life flowers in a jar (c. 1890), Paul Cézanne
“Ɖs mêjr xibišn fôc̣sz on ɖ xtrōdnri lîf n wrc v Wiłm Blêc (1757–1827), printmêcr, pêntr n revlušnri powt v ɖ pṛfetc bcs. It xaminz hiz fwmešn az an ātist, aprntisšp az an ingrevr, n hiz mtyṛti jrñ ɖ 1790z ẇn h wz at ɖ hît v hiz pârz az bʈ an ātist n revlušnri powt. W olso xplor hiz inflụns on ɖ yuñ ātist printmêcrz hu gaɖrd arnd hm in ɖ last yirz v hiz lîf, includñ Samyl Pāmr, Jwj Ričmnd n Edẉd Calṿt.
Wn v ɖ most popylr Ñgliš ātists, Wiłm Blêc z stl wn v ɖ lst undrstd. Hiz radicl poḷtcs wr rflctd in hiz extrōdnri tecnicl iṇvešnz, ispešli in ɖ fīld v printmêcñ n ɖ iluminetd bc. Ɖs xibišn brñz tgɖr mr ɖn 90 v Blêc’s most seḷbretd wrcs n ofrz ny insîts intu hiz rmāc̣bl orijinaḷti n inflụns.
At a yuñ êj Wiłm Blêc šôd ātistc promis n, at ɖ êj v 15, wz aprentist t Jêmz Bazir, ɖ ofišl ingrevr t ɖ Ssayti v Antiqriz. Undr Bazir’z tyṭlij, Blêc wz sent ât t studi Lundn’z goʈc črčz n, most ptklrli, ɖ monymnts n dec̣rešnz in Westminstr Abi – an xpirı̣ns ẇč wz t pruv fwṃtv fr hiz lêtr stîl n imijri. Ɖ frst sẋn v ɖ xibišn lcs at Blêc’s ŕli wrc, xemplifayñ hiz olrdi unoʈdox aproč.
Aftr studiyñ at ɖ Antīc Scūl v ɖ Royl Acaḍmi, Blêc ôpnd a printšop wɖ hiz fwmr aprentiscolīg, Jêmz Pācr, n fṛm ɖs pýnt h bgan t asošiet wɖ ɖ līdñ raitrz n inṭlecčlz v radicl poḷtcs sč az Mẹri Wlstncraft n Toms Pein, hu gaɖrd at ɖ hâs v publišr, Jôzif Jonsn. Blêc wz sn pṛdysñ prints v stātlñ orijinaḷti, ẇč antisipet bî nirli a senčri ɖ moṇtîps md bî ātists sč az Edgar Degā fṛm ɖ 1880z onwdz. Ɖ xibišn xaminz Blêc’s tecnicl iṇvešnz in ɖ criešn v hiz iluminetd bcs, ẇč brwt a ny sfisticešn t culrprintñ. Amñ ɖ wrcs on dsple r svṛl v ɖ most xtrōdnri iluminetd bcs, includñ Ɖ Marij v Hevn n Hel, n a cmplit set v ɖ plêts fṛm Yṛp: A Prof̣si, tgɖr wɖ sm v ɖ fînist sepṛt plêts, amñ ɖm Nebŭc̣dnezr n Nytn.
Aprentis n Mastr wl olso lc at Blêc’s lêtr c̣rir ẇn, incurijd bî hiz frendšp wɖ ɖ yuñ ātist, Jon Linel, h dveḷpt an intrest in ɖ grt ātist printmêcrz v ɖ Rnesns sč az Albreħt Dürr n Lūc̣s van Lêdn. It wz Linel hu cmišnd ɖ last v Blêc’s grt siriz v wōtrculrz, ɖ iḷstrešnz t ɖ Bc v Jôb n t Dante. It wz ɖz wrcs, n abv ol ɖ sml wŭdcut iḷstrešnz t Vrjil’z Pastṛlz, ẇč inspîrd ɖ yuñ ātists Samyl Pāmr, Jwj Ričmnd, n Edẉd Calṿt, nôn az ɖ Ênčnts. Jrñ ɖ last ʈri yirz v hiz lîf, ɖe vizitd Blêc n hiz wîf in ɖer tu-rūm flat of ɖ Strand. Ɖs xibišn juxṭpozz mni v ɖ wrcs ɖ Ênčnts wd hv sīn on ɖz vizits, wɖ ɖer ôn ŕli wrcs. Amñ ɖ most nôṭbl r Pāmr’z grtst criešnz, ɖ six sīpı̣drōñz v 1825, n Calṿt’s xqizit wŭdcuts v ɖ lêt 1820z.
Wiłm Blêc: Aprentis n Mastr hz bn kretd bî Dr Mîcl Filips, Sentr fr Êtīnʈsenčri Studiz, Ynivrṣti v Ywc; n Mr Colin Harisn, Sīňr Kretr v Yṛpiyn Āt, Ašmołn Myziym.”
