Songs of Innocence: Spring (second plate) 1789 - 1825

Curator: Blake’s “Songs of Innocence: Spring” from around 1789 to 1825 is right in front of us. The mixed media on paper—watercolor, ink, and perhaps colored pencil—creates a sense of gentle warmth. Editor: It really does. It’s more than just a pretty picture, I can feel it! What’s your take on Blake's methods? Curator: Looking closely at Blake’s printmaking process helps us decode his message. He didn't just illustrate poems; he fused image and text during production. Each page involved manual labor: etching, inking, and coloring. Note that "Illuminated Printing" he developed moved artistic control away from traditional publishers, challenging accepted divisions of artistic production at the time. Consider this artistic production in relation to its immediate social milieu – industrialising England with the exploitation of child labour. Editor: So the medium itself becomes part of the message, almost protesting against industrial production of its time. Curator: Precisely. Notice the details - the softness of the watercolors. These elements connect the final product intimately to Blake's own hand, pushing back against dehumanizing, mechanical creation. Is this apparent embrace of children and nature possibly a criticism of industrialised labour of Blake’s era? Editor: Interesting! Viewing Blake as critiquing labor through process has changed how I read this. I see his insistence on his methods as quite radical now! Curator: Indeed, by appreciating the how, where, and why behind a piece we reveal dimensions within Blake's work we would otherwise not recognize. What do you think of art production in today’s digitally dominated sphere of artistic creation and consumption, now? Editor: That's food for thought; understanding art from the viewpoint of material and means, with its history, changes everything!