“Satan Exulting over Eve,” a 1795 artwork, is included in the Getty Museum’s “William Blake: Visionary” exhibition. (photo courtesy The J. Paul Getty Museum)

The J. Paul Getty Museum presents “William Blake: Visionary,” an exhibition featuring over 100 striking works by English printmaker, painter and poet William Blake. On view at the Getty Center through Jan. 14, this is the first major international loan exhibition of Blake’s work on the West Coast.

Now celebrated as one of the greatest artists of the early Romantic era, Blake was largely unrecognized during his lifetime and lived mostly in obscurity. “William Blake: Visionary” follows his journey as an artist, from his early years as a commercial printmaker to the legendary creator we know today, exploring Blake’s wild imagination through some of the acclaimed works that have perplexed and delighted audiences for over 200 years.

“Our long-awaited William Blake exhibition was originally slated to open in 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are excited to finally showcase an iconic selection of Blake’s otherworldly creations assembled in this exhibition for our visitors,” said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Radical, fantastical, and unforgettable, Blake’s works will make visitors feel they have been transported to another world.”

The exhibition begins by illustrating how Blake first honed his technical skills as a printmaker in London – his main source of income throughout his career. Eager to establish himself as an independent artist, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Arts in 1779 but never achieved success. While audiences preferred literal renderings of beloved texts, Blake opted for more imaginative interpretations of his sources. And, while oil painting was considered the highest art, Blake chose to work in tempera, watercolor and through printmaking.

In the 1790s, Blake started receiving commissions to design and engrave some of his own compositions. In 1793, he proudly claimed to have invented a new printmaking technique of relief etching which allowed him to effectively combine poetry and image together on a single page. He began exclusively publishing his own illustrated poetry, which he referred to as “illuminated books.” Pages from his most celebrated illuminated books, “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience,” are featured in the exhibition, including one of his best-known verses, “The Tyger.”

Blake often represented figures from the Bible and classical Greek and Roman mythology, along with allegorical characters from his own imagined universe that personified a myriad of emotions, behaviors and concepts.

The Getty Center is at 1200 Getty Center Drive. It is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. The Getty Center is open until 8 p.m. on Saturdays, and it is closed Mondays. Admission is always free, but a reservation is required . Toake reservation, visit getty.edu/visit.