Lot 140: Ralph Blakelock O/C Hudson River Landscape, Up The Hudson

Ralph Albert Blakelock (New York/California, 1847-1919), “Up the Hudson,” oil on canvas painting mounted to panel depicting a Hudson River landscape, c. 1879. Unsigned. Housed in the original giltwood and composition frame. Panel: 21 1/4″ H x 35 1/4″ W. Framed: 29″ H x 43″ W. Note: This painting is registered as NBI-1939-1 in Category I (“those paintings with uninterrupted provenance”) of the University of Nebraska Blakelock Inventory. It was personally authenticated by leading Blakelock scholar Norman A. Geske. Geske’s authentication of this painting is prominently featured in the 2006 documentary MY FRIEND, NORMAN: THE MAN FROM ABERDEEN, a copy of which is included with this lot. See photograph sequence for a still from the documentary featuring Geske and the present painting. Artist Biography: “Ralph Blakelock was born in 1847 in New York City. During the late 1860s he made several sketching trips in upstate New York and New Hampshire. In 1869 he began the first of two extended visits to the western territories of the United States and into Mexico. It was here that he became interested in one of his most enduring subjects, Native Americans. Back in New York, Blakelock exhibited sporadically. His work, however, found little critical favor and by 1877 he began to experience difficulty providing for his growing family. Blakelock’s initial landscapes had been careful, unassuming views that owed a great deal to the previous generation of Hudson River School painters. By about 1880 (around the time of this painting’s creation), however, his style was evolving along more personal lines. His paintings became more intimate, less naturalistic, and darker in tonality. Gradually he developed an idiosyncratic manner characterized by thick, uneven brushwork, attention to surface pattern, and a somber, melancholic mood. A frequent motif was the lacy silhouette of dark tree branches against a moonlit sky. Such works, when they sold at all, did not bring much money. Blakelock’s behavior became increasingly eccentric and, after several difficult interactions with collectors, he spent most of the rest of his life in a mental hospital. Almost as soon as he was institutionalized, his paintings began to mount in value. Twice, in 1913 and 1916, his pictures sold for record American prices. News of these sales prompted a great deal of popular interest and belated professional recognition. His election as an associate, and then full member of the National Academy, for example, followed closely on the heels of these two record-breaking sales. While his family languished in poverty, Blakelock became perhaps the best-known artist in the United States. He died near Elizabethtown, New York, in 1919.” (Adapted from National Gallery of Art)

PROVENANCE: John William Hinson (1838-1894) (acquired directly from the artist per family history); through the family to his granddaughter Mrs. David (Nancy J.) Lyle; Martha N. Lyle-Poole; Brunk Auctions, Asheville, NC, Lot 841, July 22-23, 2017.

CONDITION: Twill weave canvas has been mounted to wood panel. With areas of abrasion and retouching primarily to sky and mountain plus scattered retouching throughout. Largest area of retouching is to sky, upper left, 5 1/2″ x 1″, See U/V photograph. Grime and minor craquelure. A couple of pockets of separation between canvas and wood in lower right quadrant. Lacks tacking edges. Frame resurfaced, with minor abrasions and gilt losses.