Ralph Albert Blakelock
(American, 1847-1919)

"Deepening Shadows"
NBI-221.1

oil on canvas
unsigned, titled and dated on a Vose Galleries label on stretcher, additional labels from U.C. Santa Barbara, and a C.A.A. 1943.40 inventory number.
Presented in a custom-made Carrig-Rohane frame, dated 1921 and inscribed "19M21/Carrig Rohane Shop Inc./R. Cevijose/Boston".
16" x 22", framed 25" x 30-3/4"

Provenance: Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts; Cranbook Academy of Art, Galleries, Bloomfield, Michigan; Sotheby's Parke-Bernet, New York, New York, May 3, 1972, lot 135; Collection of Sue and Andy Schwartz, Houston, Texas.

Exhibited: U.C. Santa Barbara, Art Gallery, The Enigma of Ralph A. Blakelock, 1847-1919, Jan. 7-Feb. 2, 1969, no. 67, illustrated in catalogue, p. 28.

Literature: Registered as number 221.1, category 2 in the Blakelock Archive, Universtiy of Nebraska

Notes: Born in the mid-19th century into a well-to-do New York family, Ralph Albert Blakelock came of age at the height of American Expansionism, better known by the doctrine of "Manifest Destiny" with Sitting Bull and Custer's Last Stand its apogee. Like all young men of the period, Blakelock was captivated by the unchartered American West, by Cowboys, Indians and new Frontiers from Yellowstone to the austere Falls of Niagara and New York to the immense forests celebrated throughout the works of the Hudson River School. Blakelock, however, was unique. While most fellow artists created outward expressions of these epic influences, Blakelock, a largely self-taught artist, internalized them. The influence of luminism and the romantic sublime espoused by the Hudson River School is evident, as is the French Barbizon School's use of reverse lighting and plein air composition, yet the result is a highly individualized approach to lighting that borders on the spiritual. A Blakelock landscape is, thus, quite like no other. Like the work offered here, the scene is often nebulous; the locale seldom known; the hills, the trees appear as massive, looming silhouettes against glowing sunsets or moonlit scapes. The experience is ethereal and resonates with all the senses. The surface textures radiate through layers that Blakelock has scored, re-worked and scraped back, creating the effect of a solar eclipse or the scorched ground of an Indian encampment.

**In overall very good condition with no inpainting or restoration detected under UV light. The painting has not been relined; it was restretched in the early 20th century with slightly too wide of stretchers - 22- 1/4", so the edges were taped. Painting has some craquelure and notable surface soiling. There is a pinhead-sized loss to the upper center right sky, and a few tiny flakes to the upper left sky that reveal the red underpainting/primer.