While Blakelock’s name became synonymous with the mystical moonlit scenes that dominated the latter part of his career, his early landscapes generally aligned with the traditional Hudson River School of the 1860s or the progressive American Barbizon style of the 1870s, and sometimes bridged both movements, as seen in Edge of the Forest. The painting combines a respect for the beauty of untouched wilderness reminiscent of the Hudson River School painters, who exhibited alongside Blakelock at the National Academy, with the soft brushwork and rich coloring found among the canvases of the Barbizon faction. 

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In time, he also began exploring Tonalism, albeit in his own way by playing with surface texture, merging and layering colors, and carefully delineating the leaves and branches of trees, thereby bringing a vibrancy to his paintings and establishing his unique place among American painters. In this respect, the spindly, meticulously drawn trees set against a much lighter sky in Edge of the Forest foretells the enchanting backlit twilights of his mature period.

Provenance:

Private collection
With Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
To private collection, Palo Alto, California, February 1989 to present

Labels:

1). Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, with painting description (no. 10928)
2). Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, with painting description (no. SORC3494)
3). Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York, New York / Ralph Albert Blakelock: The Great Mad Genius / November 15 –  December 15, 2005
4). Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York, New York / Ralph Albert Blakelock: The Great Mad Genius Returns / November 11 – December 10, 2016 / The greatest Blakelock exhibition and sale in history
5). University of Nebraska / Blakelock Inventory / No. 975
6). Old sticker with number 14679 (which is also written in black, verso of panel)

Literature:

Davidson, Abraham A., Ralph Albert Blakelock (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996), color plate 2

Exhibitions:

1). Ralph Albert Blakelock (1847-1919), Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, September 8 – October 31, 1987, as No. 14, Landscape (illus. plate 8)
2). Ralph Albert Blakelock: The Great Mad Genius, Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York, New York, November 15 – December 15, 2005
3). Ralph Albert Blakelock: The Great Mad Genius Returns, Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, New York, New York, November 11 – December 10, 2016 (illus. plate 30)