Blakelock, Ralph Albert

Ralph Albert Blakelock, (born Oct. 15, 1847, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Aug. 9, 1919, near Elizabethtown, N.Y.), American painter whose luminous impasto paintings of moonlit scenes convey a mysterious romanticism.

In 1864 Blakelock entered the Free Academy of the City of New York (now City College) with hopes of becoming a physician. After three terms, he left. Largely self-taught, he was influenced by the Hudson River School of landscape painting. He went on to develop a highly original and subjective style of landscape painting as his career progressed, almost always choosing forests as his subjects and often portraying the Native American encampments that he had observed during time spent in the West between 1869 and 1872. These forest scenes are notable for the moody interplay of their nocturnal lighting and their strangely dappled representations of tree branches and foliage.

Blakelock was neglected by the public throughout his career and was often forced to dispose of his paintings for humiliatingly small sums. Under the strain of continual failure, with his large family in a condition of poverty, Blakelock suffered a breakdown in 1891 and spent most of the remainder of his life in New York state mental hospitals. During his confinement his fame burgeoned, and his paintings began to bring high prices. The National Academy of Design made him an academician in 1916, three years before his death. Blakelock’s work was forged extensively as his popularity continued to rise throughout the early 20th century.