The Signal Fire

Painted in 1887, The Signal Fire is a work by Ralph Albert Blakelock, now in the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum, that reflects the artistic concerns of the late 19th century — an era of fundamental transformation in both the methods and purposes of European and American painting. Ralph Albert Blakelock led one of the most tragic lives in American art. His moonlit wilderness scenes, poetic and atmospheric, failed to find buyers during his most productive years, driving him to mental breakdown and commitment to a state asylum, where he spent much of the last two decades of his life.

Blakelock built his nocturnal scenes with translucent glazes over dark grounds, creating luminosity that glows from within the paint. His restricted palette — dark greens, blacks, amber — and impasto accents produce atmospheric mystery unique in American Tonalism.