William Blake: “Fine Artist” or “Illustrator?”

During his lifetime, William Blake was a great poet and artist that produced a number of works; unfortunately, at the time most of society didn’t see him as such. To them, he was a lunatic because of his spiritual beliefs, which came out strongly in his poetry and art. Not many people noted the contribution he had made to the art world with his new way of printing or the inspiration his works would later provide for later artists and art forms.

Although he did illustrations for plenty of works, I don’t think that he could be considered just an illustrator. He had a very vivid imagination and talent in many other fields, both of which he put to use in every one of his pieces. There was also a lot of care and attention to detail in his work, as you can see on the covers and illustrations of his books. Although his books brought him very little money, art was his passion, and he stuck to it faithfully; he wasn’t trying to become rich or garner attention. He did not follow the traditional style of art for his day, instead creating his own. I think it is that passion and bold expression that make him a fine artist.