Reflection: The Creation stories and an examination of William Blake’s God (Elohim) Creating Man (Butlin Catalogue 289) [1]
This reflection will begin by highlighting the creation stories that exist within many cultures, examining the two stories in the Bible which are so important within Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The use of the word Elohim by Blake will be considered, after which the design itself will be described. The final section of the article will consider whether or not Elohim creating Man conforms to the style of painting prevalent at that time and known as Gothic.
Before analysing Elohim Creating Man it is necessary to set the scene by describing the creation stories upon which the colour print (to be found at the end of this article and as always I recommend looking at the image direct from the internet) is based. Many religions have creation stories – Enuma Elish in Babylonia, Rig Veda in India and The Giant Pangu in China, to mention just three[2] – but for Western Cultures the most well known are the two from the first book of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible and it is on one of these that Blake based his print.
The first creation story (Genesis 1:1 to 2:4a – creation of the world) is a poem of creation that had been honed over many years of use in daily worship and was actually the second to have been written down being ascribed to the P (Priestly) tradition. The second creation story (Genesis 2:4b to 3:24 – creation of man and woman and the expulsion from paradise) is a more earthy account ascribed to the J (Yahweh) tradition and written down some 500 years before the P version.[3]
The P creation story describes the origin of the cosmos, the literary format being introduction, command, completion judgement and time sequence[4] – the order of creation being the heavens, the earth, wind, water, light, darkness, the land, plants, sun, moon, fishes, birds, land animals and, last of all, mankind[5].
The J creation story has as its subject the creation of man and women; before their creation there is just the earth and the heaven followed by a stream of water and then man. This is followed by the garden in Eden with the rivers, minerals, trees and other plants in which Man is placed to look after it. There then follows the creation of the animals, birds and Eve which is followed by the story of the eating of the fruit of knowledge and the expulsion from the Garden.[6]
Having described the biblical background to the creation of this print the questions to be answered are which story is Blake illustrating and why does he use the word Elohim rather than God in the title of his work. Taking this latter question first, the most frequently used word for God in the Bible is Yahweh. There are two schools of thought regarding this name; first, there is the theological belief that Yahweh is the Sovereign of all history and creation and “therefore worship of Yahweh (God) is traced back to the remote beginnings”.[7] The second school of thought ascribed to the Eloist and Priestly Traditions is that the word Yahweh was in use in the post-Mosaic period.[8] The use of Elohim (meaning deity) for God also occurs frequently, with the P creation story using the word exclusively and the J creation story using the word in combination with Yahweh[9].
However, it would appear that from later uses of the two words that Yahweh is used in the context of being worshipped by the people of Israel whilst Elohim is used in a more general sense. Within a Jewish context Elohim is the first name used for God in the Bible, ‘Elohim being the masculine plural of a word that looks feminine in the singular (Eloha)’. The word can also mean ‘judges, princes, other gods and other powerful beings’[10] The other name of God, often referred to as YHVH (Yahweh) is as mentioned above the Sovereign of all history, but within Jewish circles is regarded as the ‘the Ineffable Name, the Unutterable Name or the Distinctive Name. This name is related to the Hebrew root Hei-Yod-Hei (to be), and reflects the fact that God’s existence is eternal (and in scripture tends to be used when) emphasising his qualities of loving kindness and mercy’[11]
Yahweh is also referred to as the covenantal name, i.e. ‘the covenantal-keeping God to His people’ [12]
Before deriving the meaning that Blake ascribes to Elohim, it is essential to understand the context within which Blake is working at the time he produced the print. Whilst it is known that Blake understood Hebrew,[13] it is not certain whether or not he would have understood the different meanings for God from his own reading or from the work of the exegetes (interpreters) of the time. Blake had a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to the Bible and endeavoured to create his “Bible of Hell” – an intention set out towards the end of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.[14] The equivalent to the Biblical Genesis is Blake’s The First Book of Urizen, published in 1794, the year before the production of the set of twelve works the first of which was Elohim creating Adam.[15] Whilst this print was not used in the First Book of Urizen, it can probably be assumed that it was produced whilst his thoughts were very much concerned with Urizen. In the character of Urizen, Blake develops two distinct views of God; ‘Elohim is the generic name whereas Jahweh (Yahweh) is a proper name; the Elohim is a concept, and Jahweh a person.’[16] In the First Book of Urizen, Urizen is developed from Elohim whilst ‘Los’s character is derived from the … Jahwistic account which describes the Creator as a Promethean craftsman, who brings form out of the crude dust of the earth’[17] Whereas nowadays it is considered that it is the same God that is the subject of both of the Biblical Creation stories, it is possible that Blake considered that the two stories highlighted the difference in character of the self-divided God of Creation, a difference that Blake intended to resolve in the First Book of Urizen. As late as 1967 it was still considered by some that the two creation accounts were concerned with two different conceptions of the Creator[18] and it is very probable that Blake accepted that this was the view at the time.
Let us now look at the picture itself. A grim-faced, weary God in pictured centrally – with a dark thunderous sky (very heavy clouds) above and a mixture of land and water below. God has wings usually representative of an angel[19]. Behind God and almost framing Him is a semi-circular image presumably of the sun from behind which are emanating rays with their origin at the centre of the semicircle. Two lines coming from the side of the semicircle possibly represent dry land. Below God and above the sea is a person (Adam) who looks unhappy or even unwilling, with the left hand of God resting on Adam’s head. Around the lower body of Adam is coiled a serpent or worm the head of which is at Adam’s waist and the tail of which is below God’s legs. Further restriction is provided by some sort of garment which is wrapped around Adam and almost merging with God – this is particularly obvious below God’s left leg. The feet of Adam seem almost to be growing out of the Earth. Adam’s ribs are shown prominently – perhaps a reference to the future creation of Eve. Professor Raymond Lister’s description of this print emphasises the Gothic:-
Blake’s portrayal of the Creation is full of Sturm und Drang. The winged and bearded Elohim,………, his face strained with the titanic exertion of bringing the cosmos to birth, hovers against the background of a vast sun setting beneath gloomy clouds. He reaches out unseeingly with his arms and gives the impression of blindly, literally, moulding into form and life from clay the horrified creature Adam, the natural man or mortal worm, who is entwined by the coils of the serpent of materialism.[20]
The colours are all sombre – grey-blue sea, brown land, sepia God and Adam, black clouds tinged with sepia. The rays of light are purple to pink against a blue background. The dimensions of the colour print are 43.1 x 53.6 cms. on paper approximately 51.5 x 59.5 cms. The print is finished in pen and ink and watercolour and is inscribed below the design ‘Elohim creating Adam’ and signed 1795 WB.[21]
The form of the design is horizontal with five bands of interest, but with the viewer’s main interest being directed by the lighting to a point one third of the way from the right of picture and halfway between the top and bottom. The picture would not conform to one of the conventional forms (e.g. triangular) that would have been taught by Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Academy at the time.
It is possible that in this design Blake was influenced by the Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel of God creating Adam but this latter design is so positive and life affirming that I believe that Blake was much more influenced by his own design for Urizen, which as mentioned earlier would have been much in his thoughts at that time.
Coming now to the question of to which of the two creation stories Elohim creating Adam is a reference, there is a difference of opinion between two major Blake scholars – Raymond Lister and Robin Hamlyn[22], with Hamlyn suggesting, correctly in this writer’s view the second creation story, whilst Lister suggests the first, with another Blake scholar, Professor David Bindman referring to the print ‘in a literal sense (illustrating) Genesis ii 7’[23]
Examining the design against the Bible in the second creation story there is only the necessity for the creation of earth, heaven, and water before the creation of Adam.[24]
These are the exact elements that are shown in Blake’s design. If Blake had been thinking of the first creation story then he would surely have shown vegetation, birds, fish and animals and given an impression of the scale of the cosmos (‘firmament of heavens’) rather than just concentrating on heaven and earth. This is the view of Roger Hamlyn writing in the catalogue of the exhibition held at Tate Britain from 9th November, 2000 to the 11th February, 2001 and later at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.[25]
However Professor Raymond Lister takes a difference view stating that the subject of the print is based on Genesis 1:27: ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’[26] The reader can choose which of the authorities to go along with.
The final part of this reflection will now examine the extent to which Elohim creating Adam conforms to the style of literature and painting referred to as Gothic. The starting point for this analysis must be to explain exactly what is meant by Gothic in the context of Blake’s life and times. From its Germanic origins and the word Goth, Gothic’s most common usage is in the style of Architecture involving doorways and fenestration surmounted with pointed arches. This particular style of architecture was prevalent in medieval times roughly from the 13th to the 15th century.[27] Following on from this and the association of Gothic to post the classical period, a number of painters including Michelangelo and Raphael, both of whom influenced Blake[28], have been ascribed the description Gothic. The other strand of meaning associated with Gothic is concerned with a style of literature which was prominent in the period from the end of the 18th century to the early 20th century, epitomised by John Milton (Paradise Lost) and perhaps more popularly by the writing of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly with the creation of Frankenstein (the modern Prometheus). Such literature was aimed at providing a counterbalance to the emphasis in the previous hundred years on ‘a strict concept of reason, that banished the emotional aura of religion and reduced the Deity to a clockwork Prime Mover of the Universe’[29] This Gothic type of literature would be more closely defined as being ‘characterised by an awestruck apprehension of Divine immanence penetrating diurnal reality’[30]
The endeavour to achieve this counterbalance, and emphasise imagination rather than reason was a driving force throughout Blake’s working life forming the foundation of much of his work. In both his poetry and artistic designs Blake often created a villain of a type somewhat similar to a characteristic villain found in Gothic literature and, as Peter Ackroyd points out in his biography, Blake was aware of the popular dramas presented in the London theatres as well as the writings of Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis.[31] One such typical villain influencing Blake would have been the ‘terrible “superman” whose ways lie in darkness and whose strength originates far beyond mortal thought. He is the new mintage of the Satan portrayed by Milton in Paradise Lost’.[32] It is, of course known that Blake read Paradise Lost in his youth and completed two sets of illustrations of that epic poem in 1807 and 1808.[33]
There is so much more I could write on the subject of Blake and his views on the Age of Reason but I hope that the above may have whetted your appetite to read a little more about this remarkable poet, writer, painter and engraver.
Dr David Greenwood d.greenwood@uwtsd.ac.uk June 2021
[1] Martin Butler The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake Berkley University of California Press 1988
[2] Enuma Elish –When on high the heaven had not been named, firm ground below had not been called by name – narrative poem c9th Century BCE Babylonia; Rig Veda X – c 20 century BCE poem questioning the mystery of creation and Giant Pangu who hatched from an egg and created heaven from the lighter parts of the egg and the earth from the heavier (impure) parts (origin of yin and yang) Reference: van Wolde, Ellen Stories of the Beginning London SCM Press Ltd 1996
[3] The first five books of the Old Testament are regarded as having been written down in four stages of progressive revelation with the “sources J,E (Elohist),D (Deuteronomist) and P deriving from three distinct phases within the history of ancient Israel, characterised by different types of religious thought, with J, the earliest source reflecting an early and very anthropomorphic idea of God and P the latest a much more refined transcendental and monotheistic faith. Rogerson, J Beginning Old Testament Study London SPCK 1992, p92.
[4] Westermann, Claus Genesis 1-11 Minneapolis Fortress Press 1994 p84
[5] For a very detailed analysis of the literary form and interpretation of the Genesis creation stories, including details of the parallels with the Enuma Elish the reader is referred to Westermann (ibid) pp 74 – 278
[6] With regard to interpretation of these stories nowadays the view is that the P story is concerned with the instruction for man to be a good steward of the earth (acting as God’s agent) whilst the J story is concerned to ensure that mankind is aware of his or her responsibility to nurture the animal and plant life of the world.
[7] Anderson, Bernhard W. The Living World of the Old Testament, Harlow, Longman 1991 p65
[8] Ibid, p65
[9] Ibid, p64
[10] Website http:/www.jewfaq.org/name.htm
[11] Website http:/www.jewfaq.org/name.htm
[12] The Revised Standard Version (RSV)of the Bible (Study Bible edited by Harold Lindsell and published in London by Eyre and Spottiswoode 1980., p6 notes on 2.4. The RSV is regarded as a very accurate translation of the original Hebrew and Greek.
[13] Lister, R. The Paintings of William Blake Cambridge CUP 1986, p8. Blake certainly would not have gained the distinction between Elohim and Yahweh from the King James Bible which refers just to God in both creation stories. The RSV version of the Bible (regarded as an accurate translation) uses the word God in the P story and Lord God in the J story. The fact that Blake wrote ‘The Hebrew Bible & Gospel of Jesus are not Allegory, but Eternal Vision or Imagination of All that Exists’ (Ibid p12) suggests that it is possible that he used the Bible in the original Hebrew. He may also have used the Septuagint which would have been widely used by scholars at that time.
[14] For the full text of Marriage of Heaven and Hell see William Blake The Complete Illuminated Books London Thames and Hudson in conjunction with The William Blake Trust 2004. The reference to the Bible of Hell will be found on pages 130 (illustrated p24 of Blake’s book) and 416.
[15] Ibid. The facsimile version p202f and plain text p426f
[16] Tannenbaum, L Biblical Tradition in Blake’s Early Prophecies: The Great Code of Art Princeton, Princeton University Press 1982 p203
[17] Ibid. p203
[18] Ibid. p203 end note 7 and bibliography (Bratton)
[19] The reason for the use of a winged Elohim is uncertain – perhaps it is a reference to Zeus (Jupiter in Roman mythology) – the supreme god, referred to by homer as the cloud-gatherer and who ‘once adopted the form of an eagl to abduct the yound Ganymede…’ Houtzager, Guus The Complete Encyclopaedia of Greek Mythology Groningen Netherlands Rebo International b.v. p255 or perhaps the wings are a reference to the early visions of Blake.
[20] Lister, Raymond The Paintings of William Blake Cambridge CUP 1986 p12
[21] Hamlyn, Robin in William Blake London Tate Trustees 2000 p198
[22] Ibid, p198 and Lister, Paintings of William Blake, p12
[23] Bindman, David, Blake as an Artist Oxford Phaidon 1977, p99
[24] ‘the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up – for the lord god had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground – then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.’ RSV Bible, pp6 and 7 (see note 12 above)
[25] Hamlyn, Robin writing in William Blake London Tate Trustees 2000 p198
[26] Lister, Raymond The Paintings of William Blake Cambridge CUP pl 12 following p 25
[27] For a lengthy discussion on this subject see Clarke, Kenneth Civilisation London
[28] Riding, Christine writing in William Blake London Tate Trustees 2000, p33
[29] Varma, Davendra writing in The Literature of the Occult (Ed Peter B.Messent) New Jersey Prentice-Hall 1981, p41
[30] Ibid, p41
[31] In Blake London Sinclair-Stevenson 1995, Peter Ackroyd writes
‘It is known that he (Blake) read Gothic fiction, and even copied some lines from Ann Radcliffe’s best seller of 1794 The Mysteries of Udolpho, onto the back of one of his prints; one of the few paintings by Catherine Blake depicts Agnes from Matthew Lewis’s Gothic extravaganza of 1796, The Monk. It is also likely that Blake knew of the Gothic dramas presented in the patent theatres of late eighteenth-century London, since there are occasions when the action of his prophetic books is close to the standard dramaturgy of those productions; fabulous villains such as Abomalique and Sanguino are not so far from Blake’s Ijim and Ololon, while a preface to one volume of Gothic drama invokes Gigantic Forms and visionary Gleams of Light’…….He was a Londoner, affected by all forms of London drama and London literature just as he was influenced by topical pamphlets, popular prints and broadside ballads.’
[32] Varma writing in The literature of the Occult p45
[33] Phillips, Michael writing in William Blake – London Tate Trustees 2000, p224 and quoting Blake on Milton ‘the reason he wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devils Party without knowing it’
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