Exhibition at National Gallery of Canada Facsimile by Trianon Press Songs of Innocence and of Experience Copy Z, Rosenwald Collection "The Lamb" |
In an article in Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly by Dena Bain Taylor, the problems with the facsimile of Jerusalem are explored. She tells us that:
"The archives of the Trianon Press provide a fascinating picture of the struggles—artistic, financial, and political—that went on during the whole period of production. In particular, the correspondence between Arnold Fawcus of the Trianon Press in France and his partner in England, Patrick Macleod, sheds light on the difficulties that had to be overcome. Unfortunately, there are no final answers, since neither man anticipated the problems of deterioration forty years later, but there are many clues."
When we look at Blake's own life experience we recognize that he saw life in terms of contraries which were always struggling for resolution, or were defying the validity of the contrary position. He, like the Blake Trust, made some poor choices regarding alternative ways of expressing his art, or of building relationships with people to negotiate solutions. But in spite of failures, progress is made: goals can be reached if failures are accepted as the price of continuing to make the attempt.
The Blake Trust did not quit after the publication of Jerusalem. Perhaps they were able to have a smoother process in the publication of their subsequent facsimiles of Blake's books because of the learning process they experienced in publishing Jerusalem. There is little doubt that Blake gradually found the right materials and methods as he invented his unique process of creating illumiated books. When he wrote of 'invention' and 'execution' he was thinking of his own art requiring both the concept and the implementation - two contaries which he became the vehicle for resolving.
Public Address, (E 576) "No Man Can Improve An Original Invention. Nor can an Original Invention Exist without Execution Organized & minutely Delineated & Articulated Either by God or Man. I do not mean smoothd up & Niggled & Poco Piud but Drawn with a firm hand at once with all its Spots & Blemishes which are beauties & not faults like Fuseli & Michael Angelo Shakespeare & Milton ... I have heard many People say Give me the Ideas. It is no matter what Words you put them into & others say Give me the Design it is no matter for the Execution. These People know Nothing Of Art. Ideas cannot be Given but in their minutely Appropriate Words nor Can a Design be made without its minutely Appropriate Execution. The unorganized Blots & Blurs of Rubens & Titian are not Art nor can their Method ever express Ideas or Imaginations any more than Popes Metaphysical jargon of Rhyming. Unappropriate Execution is the Most nauseous affectation & foppery He who copies does not Execute he only Imitates what is already Executed Execution is only the result of Invention"
"he saw life in terms of contraries which were always struggling for resolution, or were defying the validity of the contrary position"
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful sentence! thanks so much, Ellie --
any idea what "Poco Piud" means? I found something on the internet but can't seem to copy it in here - I'll email it to you separately --
Thanks!!!
Much love,
Susan J
Merriam-Webster
ReplyDeleteniggle - to spend too much effort on minor details
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poco piu - 'a little more' - the almost imperceptible detail which conveys beauty or grace
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2871737?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior:cb9c80ee05369d46f3a850d4e7ff7218&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents
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(E 560)
"General
Knowledge is Remote Knowledge it is in Particulars that Wisdom
consists & Happiness too. Both in Art & in Life General Masses
are as Much Art as a Pasteboard Man is Human Every Man has Eyes
Nose & Mouth this Every Idiot knows but he who enters into &
discriminates most minutely the Manners & Intentions [P 83] the
[Expression] Characters in all their branches is the
alone Wise or Sensible Man & on this discrimination All Art is
founded."
I guess for Blake it is a matter of which 'minute detail' is focused on.
Thanks, as always, for your comments!