Ralph Albert Blackelock

Background

Ralph Blakelock was born in New York City on October 15, 1847. His father was a successful physician.

Education

Though his father urged him to follow a medical career, he turned to music and art and went to Cooper Union for training.

Career

His paintings were considered eccentric, and it was not until the 1890's that his work began to be favored. In 1899, Blakelock won the first Hallgarten prize at the National Academy of Design. Just as he was beginning to be appreciated publicly, however, he suffered a mental breakdown and was confined to an asylum at Bennington, New York. While there he was elected to the Academy. In 1916, apparently recovered, he returned to New York and made unsuccessful attempts to paint. Two years later he was obliged to return to the asylum, and he died near Elizabethtown, August 9, 1919. Although Blakelock never went abroad to study, in 1869 he traveled extensively through the Far West and developed a love for the Indians and their way of life which had a lasting effect on his paintings. Later he gave up Indian subjects in favor of nocturnes and moonlight effects. Rich texture, dark trees with a view through to a light background characterized his work.

Achievements

• Blackelock was a painter whose luminous impasto paintings of moonlit scenes convey a mysterious romanticism. Among his more famous paintings are Indian Encampmen, showing Indians with their tepees and horses in a clearing; At Nature's Mirror, a nude woman on a rock beside a forest pool; and Moonlight Sonata, depicting eerie moonlight over a lake surrounded by dark trees.

Works

More photos

• book

  • 24x36 Poster; Ralph Albert Blakelock - Moonlight (C. 1885-1890)
  • Classic Art Poster - Moonlight by Ralph Albert Blakelock 24 X 20.5

Connections

In 1877 Blakelock married Cora Rebecca Bailey; they had nine children.

Wife:

Cora Rebecca Bailey

References

• Three Wounded Champions of American Tonalism: Ralph Albert Blakelock, Homer Dodge Martin, Alexander Helwig Wyant
• Ralph Albert Blakelock: The Great Mad Genius Returns