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A VISION FOR 1977
Envisioned by a Blakean Cat

A VISION FOR 1977
            Envisioned by a Blakean Cat
            
            IT IS LONDON, 1809.....
            
            BLAKE’S ART
            EXHIBITION
            28
            BROAD ST.
            HOSIER
            
            ADMITTANCE:
            2/6D, Catalogue
            Free
            
            INSIDE............
            
            THE ONLY REVIEWER, ONE OF THE THREE
            HUNT BROTHERS, ROBERT..............
            
            FUNNY PLACE TO HAVE AN
            EXHIBITION, OVER A
            STOCKING SHOP. I SUPPOSE
            BLAKE IS EXHIBITING GOUT
            STOCKINGS
            
            ON SEEING THE “ANCIENT BRITONS” PICTURE,
            ONE OF THREE NUDE MEN.............
            
            SEE NO BLAKE
            SPEAK NO BLAKE
            HEAR NO BLAKE
            
            !!
            
            HUNT MADE NO BONES ABOUT CRITICISING WHAT HE SAW, IN
            “THE EXAMINER”.
            
            AN UNFORTUNATE LUNATIC, WHOSE
            INOFFENSIVENESS SECURES HIM
            FROM CONFINEMENT.
            
            HAS PUBLISHED A CATALOGUE,
            OR RATHER A FARRAGO OF NONSENSE...
            ...THE WILD EFFUSIONS OF A DISTEMPERED
            BRAIN.
            
            THE COLOURING OF THE 
            FLESH IS EXACTLY LIKE HUNG
            BEEF.
            
            SEYMOUR KIRKUP SAW THE EXHIBITION, AND
            LATER WENT TO AUSTRALIA............
            
            SAW IT WHEN I WAS AN 
            ART STUDENT – HIS MOST POWERFUL 
            WORK – NOW, ALAS! LOST, AND CERTAINLY
            WORTH SEEKING
            
            HENRY CRABB ROBINSON WENT, FOR A GERMAN MAGAZINE..........
            
            I WAS DEEPLY INTERESTED BY THE CATALOGUES AS
            WELL AS THE PICTURES. I TOOK FOUR, TELLING THE
            BROTHER I HOPED HE WOULD LET ME COME IN AGAIN...
            
            JA!
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OVER 150
          	YEARS PASS,
          	DURING WHICH
          	THE PICTURE 
          	OF THE
          	“ANCIENT BRITONS”
          	IS LOST....
          	
          	ARTHUR HAS JUST RETURNED FROM SCHOOL,
          	AFTER LEARNING ABOUT BLAKE.
          	
          	HELLO
          	ARTHUR
          	
          	LATER THAT DAY
          	
          	I WONDER IF OUR ANCESTORS
          	STOWED THOSE THREE NUDE MEN
          	INTO OUR ATTIC?
          	
          	WHO?
          	
          	THEY ARE THE “ANCIENT BRITONS”, THREE NUDE MEN, THE
          	MOST BEAUTIFUL, MOST STRONG AND MOST UGLY, OVERTHROWING
          	AN ARMY OF ARMED ROMANS.
          	
          	THE STRONG MAN REPRESENTS THE
          	HUMAN SUBLIME, THE BEAUTIFUL MAN THE
          	HUMAN PATHETIC, THE UGLY IS HUMAN REASON
          	
          	IT WAS NOT GREEK IN CHARACTER
          	AND WAS 10 FOOT BY 14
          	
          	BUT WHY DONT YOU JUST LOOK
          	AT MODERN NUDE PAINTINGS,
          	LIKE OTHER HEALTHY YOUNG LADS?
          	
          	BECAUSE MODERN MAN
          	IS LIKE A CORPSE
          	
          	WE CAN SEARCH 
          	THROUGH THE JUNK 
          	IN THE ATTIC
          	
          	WHAT BLISS!
          	WHAT JOY!
          	THIS MUST GO
          	TO THE NATION
          	
          	OUTSIDE THE TATE GALLERY
          	
          	HURRAH! HERE COME
          	BLAKE’S LOST-LOST BRITONS
          	
          	150th
          	BLAKE 
          	ANNIVERSARY
          	
          	IN THE GALLERY.......
          	
          	I GUESSED IT HAD BEEN STOWED
          	AWAY SOMEWHERE, EVER
          	SINCE 1810, AND FORGOTTEN....
          	
          	BBC
          	
          	YOU MODERN BRITONS
          	COULD MAKE THIS 
          	VISION TRUE. SEARCH
          	YOUR ATTICS AND
          	CELLARS.
          	YOU COULD DO THE 
          	NATION, BLAKE, AND
          	YOURSELF A FAVOUR:
          	FIND THE PICTURE
          	
          	Drawn by MARTIN READ
          	Inspired by Ruthven Todd
          	Phrased from “Blake Records” edited by
          	G.E. Bentley Jnr.
          	Chosen by Michael Davis

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