Dimensions image: 37 x 74 mm
Curator: This wood engraving by William Blake is titled 'Colinet’s ‘Fond Desire Strange Lands to Know’’. The stark contrast immediately sets a somber, perhaps melancholic, tone. Editor: Indeed. The composition, dominated by dense blacks and sharp whites, creates a sense of isolation. The figure seems dwarfed by the landscape. Curator: Blake, known for his radical politics and spiritual vision, likely uses the figure’s journey as a metaphor for the search for enlightenment, influenced by the socio-political climate of his time. Editor: Semiotically, the road could symbolize a path, the signpost a crossroads. The engraver's process, cutting away to reveal the image, also adds to this feeling of slow revelation. Curator: Right. We see a society undergoing enormous upheaval, with the individual caught between the desire for progress and the weight of tradition. Blake situates himself in the narrative of the vulnerable. Editor: The density of the lines almost obscures parts of the image, creating ambiguity. Curator: Blake presents a complex vision of humanity's place in a rapidly changing world. Editor: It's remarkable how much atmosphere Blake creates with such simple means.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-colinets-fond-desire-strange-lands-to-know-a00119
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Samuel Palmer was the most important of Blake’s followers, known as the Ancients. Palmer first met Blake in 1824. He described these illustrations to an imitation of the First Eclogue by the Roman poet Virgil as ‘visions of little dells, and nooks, and corners of Paradise’. Palmer’s art was particularly influenced by them. These prints appealed to the Ancients because they were the result of Blake’s experiments with a new medium; he had never engraved on wood before. Even at the age of sixty-four he wanted to make further explorations in his art. Gallery label, August 2004
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