Caroline Anjali Ritchie, William Blake

Abstract

Offering “a beginner’s guide to the world of William Blake” (5) with an emphasis on his pictorial and graphic productions, Caroline Anjali Ritchie’s slim volume is part of Tate Publishing’s Artists Series. As with the other publications in this series, the book is pitched at a general audience and, as such, follows recent, longer endeavors to present Blake’s life and influence through his creative works, most notably Jason Whittaker’s Divine Images: The Life and Work of William Blake (2021). Unlike Whittaker, Ritchie has the unenviable task of condensing Blake’s life, work, relationships, and legacy to fit the format of a series that dedicates much of its page count to color reproductions of visual works. Her previous experience as an assistant curator at Tate Britain informs this publication, which in just twenty pages provides a succinct biographical account and brief discussions of major (and some minor) works, with occasional nods to reception in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.