The Artist's Garden

c. 1879/1889

Ralph Albert Blakelock

Artist, American, 1847 - 1919

Neat, tended garden rows stretch away from us toward a band of trees in this horizontal landscape painting. Low plants grow across the middle of the scene, and higher plants are staked on poles to the right. A fence runs alongside the garden to the left, and a few structures are tucked among the trees’ bushy canopies. Two white chimneys are outlined against the watery blue sky on the far side of the tree line. The plants are painted with visible dabs of copper brown and ivory white, and the dark trees are highlighted with more white glints. The entire scene is backlit and shadowy, though, making details about the buildings, which might include a shed, gate, and house, hard to make out. Thin white clouds skim across the sky. Traces of a signature in red paint are visible in the lower right corner.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 40.6 x 61 cm (16 x 24 in.)
    framed: 68.3 x 88.6 x 9.5 cm (26 7/8 x 34 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1954.4.2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Lewis Bloomington Slocum [a.k.a. Lew Bloom]; his niece, The Oranges, New Jersey.[1] (sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, 29 October 1931, no. 62, as The Artist's Garden: East Orange, N.J.); Abner S. Werblin, Larchmont, New York;[2] (sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, 6 May 1937, no. 31, as The Artist's Garden: East Orange, N.J.); Chester Dale [1833-1962], New York; gift 1954 to NGA.
[1] Letters from Susielies M. Blakelock, 15 September and 6 December 1991 (in NGA curatorial files), provide this provenance information. Lew Bloom (Lewis Bloomington Slocum), a popular vaudeville actor, has long been identified as one of several friends who bought paintings from the artist in times of particular financial need. Blakelock reputedly provided Bloom with occasional piano accompaniment for his act. (Lloyd Goodrich [Ralph Albert Blakelock Centenary Exhibition, Exh. cat. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1947, 26] was the first to note Bloom's relationship with Blakelock.) Bloom was identified in 1931 as the first known owner of the National Gallery's painting in the American Art Association Anderson auction catalogue. Susielies Blakelock, the wife of the artist's grandson, cites extensive interviews with the artist's children as the source for the information that the two names actually refer to the same owner. She also provides the undocumented information that the painting was executed around 1882, that Bloom purchased it for $100 in 1887 or 1888, and that his niece (who used the name Slocum) inherited several of her uncle's paintings by Blakelock and later kept in touch with the artist's family. Early twentieth-century newspaper clippings that relate to Bloom (Billy Rose Theatre Collection, New York Public Library) make no mention, however, of a Slocum alias and refer to several of the actor's family members as having the surname Bloom.
[2] Mary Vandergrift, Parke-Bernet Galleries, in a letter of 14 November 1964 (in NGA curatorial files), indicates that the consignor of the painting was Albert Goldberg, New York. It is unclear whether he was the owner or an agent for the owner.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1943

  • Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943-1951, unnumbered cat., repro.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

Bibliography

1943

  • Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. Philadelphia, 1943: unpaginated, repro., as The Artist's Garden, East Orange, New Jersey.

1964

  • Gerdts, William H. "Ralph Albert Blakelock in New Jersey." Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society 82 (April 1964): 126.

1965

  • Paintings other than French in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 37, repro.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 18, repro.

1975

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 559, no. 849, color repro.

1980

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: no. 32, color repro.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 29, repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 183, repro. 184.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 557, no. 846, color repro.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 116, no. 35, color repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 34, repro.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 41-45, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower right, incomplete, within broken arrowhead shape: R.A. Blakelock

Wikidata ID

Q20188846

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