William Blake is often seen as an artist who toiled in isolation, ignored and unappreciated by his peers. Yet, the artist and poet was very much a part of the intellectual and artistic milieu of London at the end of the 18th century, according to Jessica Smith, a doctoral candidate in the history of art and organizer of the exhibit "The Visionary Company: Blake's Contemporaries and Followers," which opens on Sunday, April 13, at the Yale Center for British Art.
The exhibit, on view on the museum's second floor, complements the show "The Human Form Divine: William Blake from the Paul Mellon Collection," which is currently on display on the third floor of the British Art Center. Both shows will continue through July 6.
"The Visionary Company" features 60 works from the center's permanent collection which were created by the artists with whom Blake most closely associated. To show the sources for Blake's visual imagery and ideas, as well as the uniqueness of that vision, Ms. Smith has included in the exhibit drawings by such artists as Henry Fuseli, John Flaxman and James Barry. Similarly, Blake's influence on the younger generation is traced through drawings, watercolors and engravings by Samuel Palmer, Edward Calvert, George Richmond and John Linnell.
The Yale Center for British Art, located at 1080 Chapel St., is open to the public free of charge 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. on Sunday. The building is accessible to persons using wheelchairs. For further information, call 432-2800, or visit the British Art Center's site on the World Wide Web at http://www.yale.edu/ycba.