Poets in the Landscape: The Romantic Spirit in British Art

Catalogue produced for the exhibition Poets in the Landscape: The Romantic Spirit in British Art at Pallant House Gallery from 31 March to 10 June 2007. Read more about the exhibition.

Poetry has been an inspiration to many British artists. This fascinating book explores the close creative connections between poetry, the pastoral vision and British Romantic art from 1775 to 1955.

From the poetry-inspired paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby and George Romney in the eighteenth-century, and the pastoral imagery of Wiland Samuel Palmer in the nineteenth century, the publication traces the romantic sensibility within painting, printmaking and poetry to the 1920s ‘Etching Revival’ and the literary journals and romantic art of the 1940s. Marking the 250th anniversary of William Blake’s birth, it considers Blake’s visionary period in the Sussex village of Felpham working for the patron and poet William Hayley and his powerful influence on subsequent artists including John Craxton, F.L. Griggs, David Jones, John Minton, Paul Nash, John Piper, Ceri Richards and Graham Sutherland.

This beautifully designed and illustrated book, published to coincide with the exhibition on the theme at Pallant House Gallery, features five specially commissioned essays and over 100 illustrated examples of artworks from public and private collections across Britain, resulting in a scholarly and enjoyable study of the romantic spirit in British art.