The Book

There are recurrent attempts throughout Blackman's art to tackle the paradoxical theme of depicting sightlessness. Finding his inspiration in both the blindness and the great love of literature of his first wife Barbara, 'The Book' portrays a figure who is encased in shadows but placed against a typically bright background. Although she is anchored to her surroundings by the solidity of the red table as well as the oversized coffee-cup that she holds, there is an ethereal quality about the figure, who drifts towards the shadows and turns her head away from the open book. Blackman often read aloud to Barbara and there is in this painting a stillness and a sense of silence that suggests that the figure is listening, absorbed and suspended in the art of story-telling, and untroubled by the intrusive presence of the visual world.