Christopher Bucklow: A Skeleton Key to William Blake

This illustrated talk opens a door onto William Blake's highly inventive symbolism and idiosyncratic attitude to his Christian religion.

Blake said "I MUST Create a System or be enslav'd by another Man's", meaning he needed to build an independent critical position. This affected every aspect of his poetry and painting.

Blake noticed that the conflicts within his own mind seemed also to be reflected in the great international events of his age: the American and French Revolutions. For him, the personal was political. So, we can never be entire sure if his work is describing his own psychology or the great international conflicts of his time.

Christopher Bucklow is an artist and writer.

Important information

• We're meeting in the Lecture Theatre, Southampton City Art Gallery.