Ralph Albert Blakelock, (1847-1919)

Untitled (Landscape) 48 1/4 x 72 1/4in

Untitled (Landscape)
signed 'R.A. Blakelock' (lower right)
oil on canvas
48 1/4 x 72 1/4in

Provenance
The artist.
Commodore Edgar P. and Susan Vickers Luckenback, New York.
Linda Louise Luckenback, by descent from the above.
Estate of the above.
Coe-Kerr Gallery, Inc., New York, 1975.
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, 1975.
Sale, Christie's, New York, September 22, 1994, lot 91.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

This work is listed as no. 885 among the Category I paintings authenticated by Norman A. Geske in the University of Nebraska Inventory of the artist's work.

Ralph Albert Blakelock's career and personal story remain one of the most intriguing of the 19th century American landscape painters. While the artist's reputation as an inspired madman is defined by the last decade of his life, his legacy is one rich in artistic vision across varied subject matter and moods.

The artist was born in New York City in 1847, the son of Dr. Ralph Blakelock. In contrast to his father, as a young boy Blakelock rejected aspirations of a career in medicine, instead favoring creative pursuits such as art and music. Joining the Free Academy of New York, now known as City College, in 1864, he left the education system two years later without completing his degree. In the years that followed Blakelock pursued painting on his own accord with what critics perceived as a considerable lack in formal training. Despite this he was accepted as an exhibitor at the National Academy of Design in 1867 where he continued exhibiting for the next seven years. (N.A. Geske, Beyond Madness: The Art of Ralph Blakelock, 1847-1919, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2007, p. 1)

Blakelock's early works follow many of the same defining characteristics of American landscape paintings of the Hudson River School. Though Blakelock is not formally considered a contributor to the school, he celebrated similar subject matter. The present lot is a chief example of the artist emulating particular techniques practiced by the Hudson River School artists. With expert skill Blakelock composes the present work, a monumental one, large in scale and rich in detail. It recalls the grand manner canvases of forbearers such as Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church. Walls of trees frame each side of the composition and at center, a distant landscape flows away from the viewer. Weather torn trees, uprooted at their base have fallen across the opening of a river. Norman A. Geske identifies this compositional format when examining some of the artist's earlier works, most of which illustrate "the contrast of the textured details in the foreground against the illusionistic presence of the mountains in the distance." He adds that these "paintings present a coloristic preference for moss green, slate gray, and chocolate brown." (ibid, pp. 31-33)

While Geske recorded the work as Landscape in the Adirondacks (Untitled Landscape) in his inventory of paintings, held by the University of Nebraska, the location depicted in the present work has not been confirmed. Neither a date nor supporting evidence was discovered upon Geske's examination of the painting circa 1975. It had been suggested that the present work instead depicts a Western scene as the trees share characteristics of the California Redwoods. Existing scholarship confirms that Blakelock visited cities along the northern coast of California in 1869, before proceeding south to Mexico. While questions still remain regarding Blakelock's time spent there, the available catalogue of works by the artist propose that he endured a second trip to the region in 1871. (ibid, p. 4)

The remainder of the artist's career would become defined by a number of personal hardships and financial limitations. Blakelock did not experience financial success from his position as an artist. After his marriage to Cora Rebecca Bailey in 1875, their family grew to nine children, contributing to great financial strain on their family and the resources available to Blakelock as an artist. He lacked gallery representation and the sale of his works were usually transactions he handled himself. Desperation resulted in the seemingly low prices paid for the body of work he was able to sell. (ibid, p. 22)

When the artist was institutionalized for the first time in 1891, his mental health and resulting confinement to a hospital characterized much of his story thereafter. Though impoverished and eluded throughout his artistic career, critical acclaim would later find him as the generations that followed began to take interest in his work. When in 1947 Lloyd Goodrich curated a show of his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the dialogue surrounding Blakelock's life and work characterized the artist as not merely mad but particularly genius in his craft.