MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
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Obscured vision
The meaning and purpose of William Blake's work is only partly in evidence at Tate Britain, says
CHRISTINE LINDEY
William Blake, Newton
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STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity
The bard mourns the loss of comrades and troubadours, and looks for consolation with Black Country Jess
CHRIS MOSS relishes the painting and the life story of a self-taught working-class artist from Warrington
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a star-studded adaptation of Ibsen’s play that is devoid of believable humanity
William Blake
Tate Britain
OFTEN linked to Constable and Turner as one of the three great British 19th-century Romantic artists, William Blake was a genuinely unique poet, printmaker and painter.
But, unlike them, he was never accepted by the art establishment of his day. He died a pauper at the age of 69 in 1827.
Despite a small middle-class following, he remained a social outsider due to his class, political radicalism and for being an artisan rather than a trained “fine artist” at a time when the art establishment, led by Joshua Reynolds, was redefining art as a liberal pursuit on a par with the gentlemanly intellectual pursuits of literature and philosophy.
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