July was a fairly quiet month for Blake news, although towards the end a few pieces began to appear about an event that will be covered here soon: the plans to unveil a new gravestone marking the final resting place of William Blake. As Florence Snead reported for iNews, members of the Blake Society discovered the location in 2006 and the new stone will be unveiled in a ceremony on the anniversary of his death on August 12. The Telegraph sought to inject a little drama into the event by suggesting conflict over the choice of quotation to be included, but in truth the new gravestone seems to be one that will bring Blake aficionados together.
One of the most fascinating events for July was the announcement of a new piece of choreography and music inspired by Blake at the Art Centro de Arte UNLP in Buenos Aires. Entitled Apolión and directed by Jerónimo Búffalo, with additional performances by Santiago Culacciati and Esteban Trindade, the piece includes the music of Julia Gala and José Gómez Vega. In an interview with El Dia, Búffalo explained that the link to Blake came from the poet's depiction of Apollyon, the Fiend, for his illustrations to Bunyan, that showed a world being torn apart by gods who do not give answers to our questions.
The South African carried a review of Wirework, the play by Daleen Kruger that explores the Owl House, Helen Martin's collection of outsider art in Eastern Cape that includes pieces inspired by Blake, and currently being performed at the Tristan Bates Theatre in London. Michael Popham argued it was well worth seeing despite the good weather and attractions of Wimbledon, although perhaps he was writing from memories of having seen the Afrikaans original. As mentioned last month, performances of William Blake in Hollywood also continued through the month in Utah.
One of the best visual arts pieces for the month was a profile of the internationally acclaimed artist Jaume Plensa in BlouinArtInfo, who has returned to Blake many times. Although not directly addressing pieces such as "One Thought Fills Immensity" or his Blake in Gateshead light installation, he offers the following Proverb of Hell as the ideal model for his own sculptural practice: "in springtime learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." Elsewhere in Vancouver, the Burnaby Art Gallery had a series of illustrations by Jeff Ladouceur, an artist whose sources include Blake and Mad magazine. According to a review in Straight magazine, Ladouceur who was born in New York gives an insight through his show into "the slow path through life". Similarly, an exhibition in Gratz, Philadelphia, reviewed by the Jewish Exponent, explored the meaning of Job through the ages, including Blake's famous illustrations.
Something spotted online for July should really have been included much earlier in the year: Isao Yukisada's River's Edge was released in February, but I only knew of its existence because of a review in The Real Bits that was published in July. The story details the relations between Haruna and her homosexual friend, Ichiro, who is often beaten and alienated: when they discover a corpse by the river's edge (hence the title) so things become even darker, but the reason for the Blake connection is that apparently Ichiro demonstrates his life experiences to Haruna by reading her the poetry of William Blake. One that I shall follow up in future.
Finally, there were a number of references to the Romantic poet in relation to the anniversary of the death of Jim Morrison on July 3, such as this one at EuropaFM and this at Il Malilio, most of them noting Blake as the source of The Doors' name. One of the more interesting to read (though not necessarily with much to say about Blake) is this personal reflection by Sanjin Dumišic.