Blake was a unique character, and this book captures his printmaking works as well as his poetry, while giving insight into his quirky personality as well. The 133 illustrations are the highlight, with supplemental essays providing some context for this eccentric artist.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

A phenomenal collection of Blake's artwork. Although I personally don't enjoy Blake very much I found this book to be lovely.

The art and poetry in this book was absolute gorgeous. Darkness and just so unique. The actual writing about Blake seemed to be a little over the place. Very enjoyable regardless but the artwork and poems are worth it.

A great introduction on William Blake's art. In short, it is a really enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing book.

A comprehensive book about the man his art and the times he lived in. It is well researched and beautifully presented. A excellent addition to the art reference section of any library.

The novel #William Blake by # Edina Adam and # Julian Brooks is brilliant. British artist Blake had such a unique vision. And for my full review head over to Instagram at Maddie_approves_book_reviews.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Edina Adam; #Julian Brooks and # Getty

As you would expect high quality reproductions of Blake's work and interesting essays to go with them.

An interesting look on this Artist who many believe was a Visionary ! Quite hard going at times ,not really for anyone who isn't a pure academic. But some interesting Paintings & Engravings of Blake's that I had never seen before .

This, like pretty much every other Getty title, is an excellent study of a great subject. Blake is now known almost as much as a printer as he is a poet, and of course, the two cannot be separated in this work. This beautifully illustrated monograph covers the prints and printmaking itself, with an analysis of the context in his time and through the historical printing techniques he borrowed from. It may not be the best introduction to his art for people just looking for an overview, but it is of unmatched beauty.

Was interested more in the art of William Blake than in the story about it. Blake visionary and contemplative imagery was strangely close to others only painters and even reality. This guy with a poetic and imagistic full collection would be scary as hell.

**I received an e-ARC from NetGalley for an honest review**

I have always been a fan of William Blake, in particular "The Tyger". I've never had a chance to see any of his artwork in person, so I jumped at a chance to review this book.

The art included in the book is a variety of pieces across several different mediums, giving a broad overview of Blake's work. I viewed the work on an iPad, and the details and colors were absolutely stunning.

The essays were well written and informative, , but a tad on the dry side for my taste.

The only thing that would have made this book even better, would have been if the poetry that was included had been typed below the works to make for easier reading. As someone who is losing my vision due to an illness, this would have made it easier to enjoy the artwork (and poetry) even more than I already did.

Overall, this book would be a stunning coffee table piece or as a book to be added to any library for Art History.

A brilliant book of beautiful words and stunning art. A great addition to any art library, and would be the perfect thing to lie on the coffee table when your friends come around.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. The exhibition catalog boasts only two essays. It is advertised as the first loan exhibit of William Blake on the West Coast in the US since 1936. I believe the Getty could have spared more essay space in the catalog for such a notable artist and unique show. Visionary passes as an adequate exhibition catalog.

I'll pretty much read any gallery book about any exhibit in a museum, but I especially love those that are expositions on a single artist's life work. ESPECIALLY if there is very little evidence that this particular artist's work has ever been displayed in this manner at all. I am a little familiar with William Blake (as any student of art history would be), but I knew very little about him. There are a few works of his I had seen before, but in passing rather than a deep study. I really appreciated the opportunity to read this book and learn a little bit more about him. Any artist that goes against the grain in terms of what society expects them to do is a trailblazer in my eyes, and William Blake does just that. I would happily have attended this exhibition of his work, and would definitely go out of my way to see another in the future if it so happens to cross my path. This was an excellent introduction to this artist's life work, and I look forward to learning more about him in the future.

Blake's Fearful Symmetry

The Getty Museum has mounted some fine exhibitions over the past few years, and the books that have been published to accompany and complement the exhibits have uniformly been first rate. I was, however, a bit reluctant to consider this one. All I knew about William Blake was that he wrote a poem that's a staple of middle grade anthologies, ("Tyger Tyger, burning bright..."), and he was considered nutzy in his time and pretty much ever since. The Getty's exhibit and this book establish why you should never get too comfortable with settled, secondhand opinions. It turns out that William Blake was most definitely nutzy, but in a fascinating, eccentric, transgressive, idiosyncratic, and entirely admirable fashion.

This book doesn't make any effort to "rehabilitate" Blake by explaining him away as simply misunderstood, or ahead of his time. Rather, we fully embrace his eccentricities and the difficulty he presents across the entire spectrum of his work. This book is almost a celebration of Blake as the inspired, weird and wonderful visionary. To draw a phrase from Timothy Potts' Foreword, the exhibit intent is to "present a more rounded picture of Blake", but not to diminish or dismiss his unique vision. Mission accomplished.

This book is nicely organized. It comprises three crisp and varied essays and a treasure trove of prints, drawings and paintings, including some major rarities. Having ended my formal Blake education at "Tyger Tyger..." and a few incomprehensible poems, I had no idea that Blake was such an accomplished printmaker, and much of the book's text is either taken up with his life and work in this field, or addresses the matter of how thoroughly Blake has been admired and appreciated in America. As to the generous collection of plates, (133 pieces, which take up the bulk of the book), that is divided into sections devoted to Printmaker, Painter-Illustrator, Painter-Poet, Visionary, and Mythmaker. I assume it was considered disrespectful to have a section captioned "Nutzy", but the "Visionary" and "Mythmaker" chapters come close enough. The plates in each section are introduced with a brief overview. (And it goes almost without saying that the actual production quality of the book is top drawer.)

So, while Blake isn't the first artist I would think of when mounting an exhibition, this turned out to be a nervy choice and a fine collaboration with the Tate in London and a wide range of private collectors and public collections. Again to borrow from Potts, "astonishing and captivating".

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This volume is well researched, and the images that are included with the text are breathtaking. This would make an excellent addition to any library with an art collection as well as fitting in to a course on Blake and/or art history.

I love William Blake and this book made me learned a lot about him and his work.
Well written and informative, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I was unfamiliar with Blake's artwork and this book provided a nice collection of illustrations and a decent amount of info (not too in-depth but enough). Really enjoyed the sections describing his mixture of poetry and art.

I enjoyed it. William Blake is known as the "Poet Painter" and that comes through in this book. His paintings and prints tell stories. I prefer more contemporary works, I believe this style is more from a Baroque period? But, I enjoyed the graphic nature of the prints- a woman pulling a man's intestines and wadding them up into a ball. Fascinating. These are strong. powerful images that speak volumes.
Thank you NetGalley & J Paul Getty Museum for the opportunity to review this book.

For full disclosure, I chose a copy of this book to peruse digitally because it was free, and with as far as I knew an irreparable dislike of the subject. It would have to go some way to make me a convert, I thought. To that extent the book is a failure, partly because it has so very little academic writing in it. We get an introduction to the man, and it's more or less inferred that, in the ageless cycle of art from great heights to poor lows, Blake was continuing that movement while thinking he was providing a new height, and reacting to a previous low, when patently the opposite was true. "One must be born with a sympathy for [Blake's aesthetic]" someone once said, and that's something I wasn't (that and the heightened religiosity).

But just because he's not in my DNA to appreciate, I was still open to seeing more of his work, correcting a gaping lapse in my poor art knowledge. And this book there was a distinctive success. It's the catalogue to a major show by the Getty that the coronasniffles was threatening at the time I dealt with it, and really does provide a highly visual guide to the man's output, from pure – and very fine – engravings easily reproduced, to those that were hand-printed, and hand-washed in watercolour he used to accompany Milton, Dante, the Bible and so much more. Again I would hold this up as being low on words – other catalogues have some semblance of the information panels that would be hung with each art work, and we get none of that here. So for an artist who surely needs more explanation that most, all we get is what equates to about half a dozen gallery-introducing standees, the introduction itself, and a specialist-only resume of how Blake got to be so collected so avidly by American art lovers and bibliophiles.

So don't come here to learn much about what you're witnessing, but the productions of the art are top notch, and if the visuals and the collection that made up that aesthetic are what you require, then this is strongly recommended. I did see some interesting images, and he did more comely women than his boggle-eyed norm had me expect, but I remained a sceptic.