Timeline

The timeline of R.A. Blakelock's life and work is condensed from Norman Geske's book Beyond Madness: the Art of Ralph Blakelock, 1847-1919 (Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), to include only the years that Blakelock was alive and to note selected articles, books, or exhibition catalogues.

1847
Born on Oct. 15th in New York City, to Dr. Ralph Blakelock and Caroline Carey Blakelock
1853
Known artwork: NBI- 1175.I
1863
First paintings
1864
Enters the Free Academy of the City of New York (later City College). See: NBI- 1085.I
1865
Meets Cora Rebecca Bailey. See: NBI- 29.I and NBI- 30.I
1866
Leaves Academy without graduating. See: NBI- 154.I
1867
Exhibits Mount Washington at National Academy of Design; continues to exhibit annually until 1888. Other works: See: NBI- 793.II
1868
Known artwork: NBI -48.II and NBI-190.II
1869
Begins first trip west. See: NBI-123.II, NBI-489.I, NBI-874.I, NBI-1100.I
1870
See: NBI-201.I
1871
See: NBI-477.I, NBI-548.I, NBI-549.I, NBI-642.II; NBI-774.II; NBI-1051.II
1873
See NBI-629.I
1874
Exhibits work in his own studio and, in April and November, at the Brooklyn Art Association
1875
See NBI-69; NBI-1231.II; W.M. Hunt's Talks on Art (Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co, 1892)
1877
Marries Cora Rebecca Bailey; son Carl born (d. 1968). See: NBI-686.II
1877-78
See NBI-1074.I
1878
See NBI-1482.II
1879
Exhibits in April at the National Academy of Design, with favorable review by Charles de Kay in the New York Times, Fri, May 2. Exhibits in November at the Brooklyn Art Association. See NBI- 175.I; NBI-367-I; NBI-402.I; NBI-609.I
1880
Moves to East Orange, NJ, where daughter Marian is born (d.1930). Exhibits at the Society of American Artists and in May at the Brooklyn Art Association. See NBI-167.I, NBI-168.I, NBI-387.II, NBI-507.I
1882
Exhibits Cloverdale, California, Moonlight and Indian Fishermen at National Academy of Design
1883
See NBI-408.I, NBI-779.II
1884
Birth of twins Claire (d. 1886) and Ralph M. (d. 1933). Exhibits Landscape and On the Face of Quiet Water at National Academy of Design. Reviews in Art Amateur, v.2 (July 1), p.30, and Art Union, v. 1, no. 5
1885
Exhibits Cumuli at National Academy of Design. See NBI-665.I
1886
Birth of daughter Mary (d. 1973). Review of NBI-353.II appears in Harper's Weekly. Blakelock included in John Dennison Champlin, Jr.'s Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, v. 1 (N.Y.: Charles Scribner, 1886), p. 163. See Harper's Weekly, November 27, 1886, p. 760
1888
Birth of son Louis (d.1952). Appleton's Encyclopedia of American Biography (N.Y.: D. Appleton, 1888,) v. 1, p. 760 cites Blakelock
1890
On March 25th, brother takes Blakelock to Flatbush Asylum; later Blakelock enters Long Island Hospital, Brooklyn. That summer, family (including R.A. Blakelock) goes to Hawley, PA. The Collector, v.2, no. 4 (Dec. 15, 1890,) p. 43, describes Blakelock's plight without naming him. See NBI-109.I, NBI-703.I (Brook by Moonlight)
1892
Family resides at various residences in Brooklyn and Harlem
1893
Birth of daughter Ruth (d. 1982). Exhibits at World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago. See review in Boston Evening Transcript, July 20, 1893, in which Blakelock and Ryder are described as "two strange Manahattan geniuses"
1896
See NBI-468.I
1897
Birth of son Allen (d. 1978)
1899
Family moves to 1418 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn and resides there until 1903. R.A. Blakelock committed to Long Island Hospital on October 25th. Son Douglas born (d. 1980)
1900
An Indian Encampment (NBI-348.I) shown at the Exhibition Universelle, Paris. First purchase by William T. Evans. Exhibition at the Lotos Club of thirty-three Blakelock paintings owned by Evans. First forgeries noted by William T. Cresmer
1901
Transferred to Middletown State Hospital on June 25th. Publication of Paintings by Ralph Albert Blakelock in the Private Collection of Frederick S. Gibbs (New York). See Sadakichi Hartmann's A History of American Art (New York: Tudor, 1901; final ed. 1934,) p.108
1902
Exhibition at the Lotos Club of Blakelock's paintings from the collection of Frederick S. Gibbs. See Frederick W. Morton's realistic evaluation in Brush and Pencil, February 1902, pp. 257-259
1903
Forgeries noted by William Macbeth
1904
Pipe Dance, NBI-349.I, purchased by George H. Hearn. Frederick S. Gibbs collection sold, and twenty Blakelock paintings from the collection were purchased by Babcock and Snedecor.
1905
See Samuel Isham, The History of American Painting (New York: MacMillan, 1905,) pp. 446-447
1907
See Charles H. Caffin, The Story of Painting in America (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1907,) p. 217
1908
Alteration of Marian Blakelock's signature
1910
See Edmund von Mach, Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelman, 1910,) v. 4, p. 77, in which Blakelock's relationship to the art of Barbizon is pointedly noted
1911
Transferred to Dr. Packer's Sanitarium at Riverdale, New York. See Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculptures, Dessinateurs et Engraveurs (Paris: Librairie Grund, 1911,) v. 1, p.63
1912
See James William Pattison, "The Art of Blakelock," Fine Arts Journal, October, 1912, pp. 641-648
1913
Exhibition (with Inness and Wyant) at Moulton & Ricketts, Chicago, March 10-22. Exhibition of paintings at Worchester Art Museum. Second Evans sale, includes fourteen works. Blakelock elected associate member of the National Academy of Design. Moonlight, NBI-21.I, purchased by W.A. Clark for $13,500. See Elliott Daingerfield, "Ralph A. Blakelock," Art in America, December 1913. See also Catalog for the Collection of Foreign and American Paintings owned by Mr. George Hearn (New York: privately printed). Hearn makes gift to Metropolitan Museum of Art
1914
Elliott Daingerfield, Ralph Albert Blakelock (New York: privately printed), is published with surprising inaccuracies relating to Blakelock's life and work. Review of the book by Edward E. Hale appears in The Dial, November issue, pp. 382-384, with thoughtful analysis of Blakelock's work and its importance
1915
Exhibition at Panama Pacific Exposition, San Francisco. Daughter Marian committed to Hudson State Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. See NBI-1479. See John E.D. Trask and J. Neilsen Laurvik, Catalogue Deluxe (San Francisco: Panama Pacific Exposition.) Blakelock included in Helen L. Earle, Biographical Sketches of American Artists, 3d ed (Lansing: Michigan State Library, 1915,) pp. 39-40
1916
April 16th, Blakelock visits New York to view forty-three of his works made available on loan to the Galleries of Henry Reinhardt from museums and private collectors. The exhibit ran from April 3-April 15th. April 26th, elected full academician in the National Academy of Design. Four paintings are exhibited at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio. On September 15th, Blakelock is released into the custody of Mrs. Van Rensselaer Adams; taken to Lynwood Lodge in West Englewood, New Jersey. After ten days, taken to Dr. Packer's Sanitarium in Riverdale. Brook by Moonlight, NBI-703.I purchased at Lambert Sale by Edward Drummond Libbey for the Toledo Museum of Art for $20,000. The sale and his election led to a raft of articles and news items. See particularly Literary Digest, April 22, pp. 1147-49; Suburban Society, pp. 3-4; The Nation, May 4, p. 473; and Frederick Fairchild Sherman's article in Art in America, June 1916, pp. 234-41
1917
Moved to Caldwell, New Jersey on February 13th. Returned to Middletown on November 4th. Art World notes the rise in prices of his work since his hospitalization (July, pp. 308 and 311). Other references to Blakelock appear in Lorinda Munson Bryant, American Pictures and Their Painters (New York: John Lane,) p. 122; William H. Downes, "Blakelock's Pictures," Boston Evening Transcript, February 20, 1917; Frederic Fairchild Sherman, Landscape and Figure Painters of America (New York: privately printed; Exhibition of Paintings by Ralph Albert Blakelock (Boston: R.C. and N.M. Vose); and Who's Who in America, 1918-1919 (Chicago: A.N. Marquis & Co.), p. 268
1918
On May 28th, spurious paintings in the custody of the district attorney are identified by the artist. An article by Blakemore Godwin, "Blakelock's Brook by Moonlight," appears in Art and Archaelogy, March, 1918, p. 149
1919
Eleven paintings are shown in March 1919 at the Union League Club in New York. In July, Blakelock is released a second time into the custody of Mrs. Adams, and taken to Elizabethtown, Essex County, New York. On August 9th, Blakelock dies at Adirondack camp owned by William S. Kingsley under mysterious circumstances. On the death certificate, arteriosclerosis is listed as the cause.