The Canoe Builders
after 1879
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William T. Evans
Accession Number
1909.7.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
Ralph Albert Blakelock's *The Canoe Builders*, after 1879, a serene moment in the American wilderness, depicting a group of Native Americans constructing a canoe amid a lush forest, with a teepee nearby. oil painting exemplifies Blakelock's fascination with Indigenous life, blending groups into poetic natural settings. As a self-taught artist influenced by the Romantic tradition, Blakelock (1847–1919) often portrayed Native subjects with a mystical reverence, evoking the untamed beauty of pre-industrial America during the late 19th century's era of westward expansion. Blakelock's technique sh...
About the Artist
Ralph Albert Blakelock · 1847–1919
Ralph Albert Blakelock was born on October 15, 1847, in New York City to English-born physician Ralph B. Blakelock and Caroline Olinarg Blakelock. Intending to follow in his father's footsteps, he enrolled at the Free Academy of the City of New York (now City College) in 1864 to study medicine but dropped out after two or three terms, rejecting formal education. Entirely self-taught, Blakelock hon...