Indian and Papoose

From Mattatuck Museum

Ralph Blakelock (created by)
Mattatuck Historical Soc (owned by)

Oil

canvas, painting

4 1/2 in. H X 7 in. W Measurement Notes: Dimensions Extent: overall
Framed?: Yes

Evening scene of figure in long red skirt carrying a child and walking up a road. Blakelock was one of the most enigmatic and tragic artists of the late 19th C. Self taught, he developed a dark and deeply personal style using unconventional materials and techniques. Unable to achieve commercial success to support his large family, he suffered a nervous breakdown and spent the last 20 years of his life in the Middletown State Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, NY. Evening scene of figure in long red skirt carrying child walking up a road. Road enters scene from lower left corner and curves out of sight in middle of composition, behind rocky hillside. Road is edged by board fence on left. Trees on both side of road, and a line of trees a middle ground. Mottled surface. Single brush stroke for each of the tree trunks. Signed in red in lower right corner. One of the remembered scenes from his travels in the American West, this painting is part of a group in which he places a distant figure in a central path as a focal point for the composition. The textured trees framing the glowing sky are characteristic of this group. Typically the figure is placed out of reach of the viewer and is instead absorbed into the ambiance of the landscape itself.

Gift of Mildred Thaler Cohen, 1999

Accession/ID Number 99.25.4