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selling his paintings for extremely low prices, far beneath their known worth. In hopes of lifting his family from abject poverty, reportedly on the day his 9th child was born, Blakelock had offered a painting to a collector for $ 1000. The collector made a counter offer and after refusing the proposed sum
Blakelock found himself in a bitter argument with his wife. After the domestic dispute, Blakelock returned to the patron and sold the painting for a much lesser sum. Defeated and frustrated, it is said he broke down and tore the cash into pieces. And so it was after such repeated failed business transactions that he began to suffer from extreme depression and eventually show symptoms of mental frailty.
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214:, where a major gallery retrospective of Blakelock's work was taking place. Blakelock was awed by the changes in the city in the two decades since he had last seen it, and thrilled to see the recognition his work had received. Smith scored himself a major news story. (In a 1945 account, Smith added that Blakelock had quietly informed him that several of the paintings were forgeries, but Smith chose not to put that in his story because of the question of how far he could rely on the word of the less than fully sane Blakelock.) These events led to Blakelock's release from the asylum, in the "care" of Sadie Filbert, alias Beatrice Van Rensselaer Adams, who milked him for all he was worth.
566:. "Over the years, when Blakelock was in financial need, Watrous handled his work for him, selling it to art dealers and collectors, something Blakelock often could not manage for himself." Watrous was Blakelock's "most faithful supporter, both during the productive decades of the 1880s and 1890s and during the period of his confinement" for mental illness. Around and after the time of Blakelock's death, Watrous began painting landscapes and nocturnes which "in their evocative mood, boldly designed compositions, and use of light and dark contrasts…resemble the work of his friend Blakelock," and may be seen as elegiac tributes. Some anecdotes about Watrous and Blakelock are related in
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242:, whose painters also favored dark forests and heavily worked surfaces. Blakelock's technique was highly personal and through his individualistic style his paintings summoned the viewer into a luminous, almost other worldly realm. In the majority of his paintings, space is given depth by the use of light; moonlight most often. Along with his contemporary
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210:, of Blakelock's whereabouts, and he went to see Blakelock in the asylum. He found him largely lucid, although under the delusion that an imagined "diamond of the Emperor of Brazil" had been stolen from him. Smith explained to the asylum director who Blakelock was, and managed to arrange to bring Blakelock and the director to
200:, whose administration and staff were unaware of his fame as an artist, and who viewed his belief that his paintings were in major museums as one more sign of his illness. While confined he continued to paint in ink, painting on the backs of cardboard and various supports, substituting bark and his own hair for brushes.
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In 1916, one of
Blakelock's landscapes sold at auction for $ 20,000, setting a record for a painting by a living American artist. It was this impressive price that captured the imagination of Sadie Filbert, who had reinvented herself as the socially prominent Beatrice Van Rensselaer Adams so that she
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Almost as soon as
Blakelock went into the first psychiatric hospital, his works began to receive recognition. Within a few years the paintings he had once sold for next to nothing were resold for several thousand dollars. In 1916, Blakelock was made an Academician of the National Academy of Design.
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between 1889 and 1892. His depression manifested in schizophrenic delusions in which he believed himself immensely wealthy – perhaps a compensation for his long struggle to provide for his family. In 1899, he suffered his final breakdown and spent almost the entire remaining twenty years of his life
148:
Ralph
Blakelock was born in New York City on October 15, 1847, the son of Caroline Olinarg (Carry) and Ralph B. Blakelock, who was born in England. His father was a successful physician. Blakelock initially set out to follow in his footsteps, and in 1864 began studies at the Free Academy of the City
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of painters. In time, he developed a more subjective and intimate style. His favorite themes were those depicting the wilderness and solitude; evocative and emotional paintings of illuminated moments in nature, of moonlight landscapes and twilight hours and Indian camps in the solitude of nature.
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could swindle the wealthy by persuading them to donate to charitable causes that would, in fact, serve to enrich herself. She founded and milked the
Blakelock Fund, which was supposed to support the impecunious artist and his needy brood. She informed Harrison Smith, then a young reporter with the
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was sold at the highest price ever paid for the work of a living
American artist at that time. Sadly, his rise in public notoriety along with the increase in his art sales never benefited his family or himself. By 1903 his works were being forged, so much so, that he remains today as "perhaps the
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Blakelock taught himself to paint through trial and error, and continued to use improvisation as an artistic method throughout his life. He was also an accomplished musician, and would use his improvised piano compositions as inspiration for his paintings. He would work on paintings for years,
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In 1877 Blakelock married Cora
Rebecca Bailey; they had nine children. In art, Blakelock was a genius, yet, in business dealings and in monetary transactions he proved a failure. He found it difficult, if not crushing to maintain and support his wife and children. In desperation he found himself
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161:. Largely self-taught as an artist, he began producing competent landscapes, as well as scenes of Indian life, based on his notebooks he filled while traveling and on his personal memories and feelings. Blakelock's works were exhibited in the
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most forged" artist in
America. Such was the final ironic touch to one of the most tragic stories in
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paintings, specifically the 1885 painting (68.7 by 81.3 cm) in the collection of the
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Blakelock suffered his first mental breakdown in 1891, while living with his brother in
991:""I'm Thinking of Ending Things," Reviewed: Charlie Kaufman's Showy Quest for Sympathy"
246:, Ralph Albert Blakelock was one of the most individual American painters of his time.
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The
Unknown Night: the madness and genius of R. A. Blakelock, an American painter
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The
Unknown Night: The Genius and Madness of R. A. Blakelock, an American Painter
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He continued painting until his death at the age of 71 on August 9, 1919.
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Evans, Dorinda, "Art and Deception: Ralph Blakelock and His Guardian,"
632:(see picture in Artworks section below), is referred to in the novel.
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Around or after 1886, Blakelock was befriended by the younger painter
157:, wandering far from American settlements and spending time among the
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1108:, catalog for the 2016 exhibition at Questroyal Fine Art, New York
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Harrison Smith, "Genius in the Madhouse", originally published in
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building layers and then scoring, scraping, or rubbing them away.
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918:, Richard L. Tobin and S. Spencer Grin, eds., Bantam Books, 1974.
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American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol. III
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Blakelock's paintings are a key plot point in the 2020 movie
593:' nocturnes that pays posthumous homage. Right: Blakelock's
916:
The Saturday Review 50th Anniversary Reader: The Golden Age
1059:. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Meanwhile, Blakelock languished in the mental asylum of
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Ralph Albert Blakelock: The Great Mad Genius Returns
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American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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877:"Shut Him Out – Two Hospitals Refuse Inpatient"
1030:, vol. III, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
238:He was also heavily influenced by the French
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1112:Ralph Blakelock: The Artist and the Archives
1072:Ralph Albert Blakelock: The Great Mad Genius
614:Blakelock is a key figure in the setting of
589:(c. 1919–1923, private collection), one of
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113:(October 15, 1847 – August 9, 1919) was a
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117:American painter known primarily for his
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325:Sunset, Navarro Ridge, California Coast
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233:have their genesis in the style of the
851:Davidson, Abraham A. (November 2010).
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198:Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital
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989:Brody, Richard (September 3, 2020).
894:. New York: Grove Press, 2003: 200.
651:
1118:"Ralph Blakelock, Mad Artist, Dies"
979:, pp. 35, 40–43, 45, 312, 313.
562:, and often used his studio in the
249:One of his many paintings entitled
1240:20th-century American male artists
1235:19th-century American male artists
1067:Penn State University Press, 1996.
931:, Vol. 19, no. 1, 1987, pp. 39-50.
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1074:, Questroyal Fine Art, Inc. 2005.
624:. In particular, one of his many
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1050:"Blakelock, Ralph Albert"
914:, March 31, 1945, reprinted in
814:Roberts, Norma J., ed. (1988),
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457:Smithsonian American Art Museum
421:Smithsonian American Art Museum
329:Smithsonian American Art Museum
1200:20th-century American painters
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293:Midwest Museum of American Art
149:of New York (now known as the
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1024:Burke, Doreen Bolger (1994),
638:I'm Thinking of Ending Things
554:Friendship with Harry Watrous
1230:Hudson River School painters
755:Moonlight, Indian Encampment
417:Moonlight, Indian Encampment
1225:Burials at Kensico Cemetery
1215:Painters from New York City
1210:American landscape painters
757:(c. 1885–89), oil on canvas
730:(c. 1886–95), oil on canvas
601:Yale University Art Gallery
475:Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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1165:Blakelock at Artcyclopedia
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547:Indianapolis Museum of Art
311:Indianapolis Museum of Art
163:National Academy of Design
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1205:American modern painters
1142:Utah Museum of Fine Arts
929:The American Art Journal
879:The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
818:The American Collections
564:Sherwood Studio Building
192:in mental institutions.
1065:Ralph Albert Blakelock,
1056:Encyclopædia Britannica
739:Corcoran Gallery of Art
509:, c. late 1880s–1890s,
493:Corcoran Gallery of Art
399:Canadian Indian Hunters
75:Elizabethtown, New York
1195:American male painters
1132:Ralph Albert Blakelock
881:, March 26, 1891 p. 6
854:Ralph Albert Blakelock
824:Columbus Museum of Art
525:Moonlight on the Brook
439:Columbus Museum of Art
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111:Ralph Albert Blakelock
25:Ralph Albert Blakelock
1160:Sheldon Museum of Art
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37:Ralph Blakelock, 1870
275:Tucson Museum of Art
244:Albert Pinkham Ryder
185:Greenpoint, Brooklyn
1134:by Abraham Davidson
1063:Davidson, Abraham.
912:The Saturday Review
529:Krannert Art Museum
511:Phillips Collection
235:Hudson River School
119:landscape paintings
93:Largely self taught
610:In popular culture
343:Edge of the Forest
229:Blakelock's early
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139:, Atlanta, Georgia
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289:Indian Encampment
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1128:Catalog page
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1005:September 3,
1003:. Retrieved
997:. New York.
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151:City College
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110:
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69:(1919-08-09)
18:
1185:1919 deaths
1180:1847 births
1083:Grove Press
717:Moon Palace
712:Paul Auster
661:Collection
621:Moon Palace
616:Paul Auster
309:, c. 1875,
173:Cora Bailey
137:High Museum
115:romanticist
82:Nationality
1174:Categories
995:New Yorker
977:Burke 1994
965:Burke 1994
953:Burke 1994
941:Burke 1994
826:, p.
599:(c. 1888,
386:, Stockton
367:, Stockton
231:landscapes
125:movement.
101:Painting,
49:1847-10-15
728:Moonlight
714:'s novel
685:Moonlight
664:Comments
626:Moonlight
618:'s novel
596:Moonlight
507:Moonlight
489:Moonlight
435:Moonlight
380:The Canoe
251:Moonlight
212:Manhattan
189:Lew Bloom
175:(c. 1876)
144:Biography
133:Moonlight
90:Education
1124:obituary
999:Archived
702:Brooklyn
645:Artworks
587:Twilight
545:, 1902,
401:, 1881,
291:, 1870,
273:, 1869,
271:Solitude
123:Tonalism
85:American
1158:at the
1149:at the
1140:at the
1018:Sources
361:Evening
1089:
1085:2002,
1034:
898:
861:
834:
658:Image
655:Title
585:Left:
780:Notes
652:Year
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