The Man Who Taught Blake Painting in his Dreams (counterproof) after 1819

Curator: This is William Blake's "The Man Who Taught Blake Painting in his Dreams (counterproof)," part of the Tate Collections. Editor: The ethereal quality strikes me first; it's so delicate, almost like a fading memory. Curator: It's a counterproof, so it’s inherently about process: reversing an image, exploring the labor involved in reproduction, the making and re-making. Editor: And visually, this reversal emphasizes a sense of the uncanny. That leaf-like symbol on the forehead...does it represent divine inspiration? Some kind of third eye? Curator: Perhaps. Or simply the material trace of his artistic process. Dreams, after all, were labor for Blake. Editor: I still find something profoundly symbolic in the subject itself—the idea of learning from a dream. It speaks to Blake's belief in the power of imagination and the internal world. Curator: It certainly does, and it provides a tangible link to the visionary practices Blake employed throughout his career. Editor: Looking at this, I’m left pondering the relationship between dreams, artistic labor, and visual symbols in Blake's art. Curator: A fascinating intersection. It really brings Blake's process to light.