Indian Village

NBI ID: 97.I
Title: Indian Village
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 13 1/2 x 23 7/8
Signature: "R.A. Blakelock" lower left
Current Owner: Private Collection
URL of Owner: 
CityState: 
Date: 
Provenance: Artist; General R.W. Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J., c. 1892; Lewis J. Ruskin Scottsdale, Arizona
Published: 
Exhibited: 
Subject Description: The horizon is a little below center of canvas. Thin line of trees across the horizon, opening at right center. Composition framed by trees the height of the picture at right and left edge foreground. A group of four teepees, two horses, two travois and indistinct figures in front of distant trees left center.
Condition: Generally good. Sky painted into trees, in some areas trees scratched into pigment, in other areas built up with impasto. Horses and teepees modeled with small touches.
Infra-red: (detail of signature) shows with unusual clarity the animation and impulse in the brush stroke, both in signature and ground areas just above. (Detail of camp in middle distance). As above, also the autographic character of the drawing in the trees.
UltraViolet: Shows the use of impasto in the foliage areas.
Color: 
X-ray: Subtexture under foliage areas.
Additional Examination Notes: The picture carries a poem by R.A. Blakelock on a plaque fixed to the frame: "The Darkness and the Hush of Night; is broken by the clear Moonlight; And There upon the Brink of Wood; The peaceful Indian Village Stood.