Art News

Tate Britain to Re-stage William Blake’s May 1809 Solo Exhibition

William Blake - The Spiritual Form of Pitt Guiding Behemoth ?1805 - Tempera heightened with gold on canvas - © Tate

LONDON – In April 2009, Tate Britain will unveil the first display devoted to William Blake’s only one-man exhibition, reuniting nine of the surviving works two hundred years after they went on display in May 1809. The original exhibition was Blake’s most significant attempt to create a public reputation for himself as a painter and provided a vital insight into the artist’s self-image and ambitions. A new edition of Blake’s Descriptive Catalogue (1809) will be published by Tate Publishing to coincide with the display.