The Unknown Blakelock offers new perspectives on Ralph A. Blakelock (1847–1919) by addressing the modernity of his accomplishments as reflected in the exhibition’s paintings. A self-taught artist, Blakelock digressed from habitual procedures into stylistic experiments that were considerably in advance of common practice of the time. Associated primarily with the two dominant themes of moonlight views and Indian encampments, Blakelock was already acknowledged as a colorist during his career, an aspect of his painting attesting to his receptivity to modernist developments but largely overlooked in critical discourse. The works featured in this exhibition also attest to a salient characteristic of our own time, namely, the artist’s growing autonomy. The Unknown Blakelock explores this ongoing impact of Blakelock’s work, which has previously been placed in the context of the exploration of his own—not our—contemporaries.
The Unknown Blakelock is a catalog of the exhibition of lesser-known works of Blakelock held at the Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, from January 25 to August 24, 2008, and at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts in New York City, from September 25, 2008, to January 4, 2009.