Terms and materials: Literature

Art and literature meet at the crossroads of word, image, and narrative, with both disciplines employing these devices in their own ways. Artists like Maurice Sendak and William Blake blur the line between the art and literature by writing and illustrating their own works, crafting words and images inspired by each other, while the visual signs in Paul Graham’s photography leave space for George the poet to step up and speak.

You may have come across some terms in the previous films that were new to you, or that need some further explanation. Take a look through the glossary below for a few terms in more detail.

Fairy painting– A fascination with the supernatural characterised the Victorian age and inspired a strand of art that depicted fairies and other mythical creatures. These paintings often referred to legends or the more fantastical works of William Shakespeare, such as his play A Midsummer Night's Dream. William Blake often painted imaginative subjects like this one.

Narrative – A narrative is simply a story, and narrative art is art that tells a story. Up until the twentieth century, much of Western art was narrative art.

Romanticism – Beginning in the early 19th century, artists and writers were showing a renewed interest in the power of emotion, personal feelings, and nature. Artists like JMW Turner and William Blake turned away from the classical tropes of ordered forms and restraint and painting images of intense emotional power and even fantasy.

Surrealism– From the 1920s onwards, a group of artists and writers became fascinated with Sigmund Freud's theories of the unconscious, the deepest part of the mind said to house basic instincts and memories. The surrealists tried to unleash the unconscious imagination through art with strange juxtapositions and unexpected subjects.