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Ad Code: 3
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The Farm
watercolor 18x22
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Known for her painterly, naturalistic landscapes and still-life images,
Sarah Jane Blakeslee received her art training in Realism* and
Impressionism* and was profoundly influenced by the work of Paul
Cezanne.
Blakeslee was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1912. She attended
the Art Institute of Chicago*, Illinois in 1926, followed by the
Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. Additional instruction
was obtained from Catherine Critcher, an artist recognized for her
Native American portrait paintings. In 1931 she began studying at
the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts* in Philadelphia under the artist
Francis Speight. As an instructor and landscape painter, Speight
was influential on the artwork she produced. Blakeslee and
Speight later married.
Sarah Blakeslee was awarded the Cresson Scholarship* from the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1933, enabling her to travel and
paint in Europe for a year. It was during her time abroad that
Blakeslee encountered the artwork of Paul Cezanne, which, having a
significant impact on her style of painting, is most apparent in her
earlier work. She also received awards in honor of her work, such
as the Charles K. Smith Award from the Woodmere Gallery; Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts' Mary Smith Prize*; and the National Academy of
Design* Roger Fund. She painted Apple Orchard, a mural for the post office in Strasburg, Virginia, as part of the Works Progress Administration* in 1938.
Blakeslee’s artwork has been exhibited by the Art Institute of Chicago;
Corcoran Gallery; National Academy of Design; North Carolina Museum;
Pennsylvania Academy; and the 1939 Worlds Fair in San Francisco,
California. Her work is held in permanent collections of
institutions including the Greensville Museum of Art in North Carolina;
Muskegon Museum of Illinois; North Carolina Museum of Art; Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts; and the St. John’s Museum in North Carolina.
Blakeslee died on 12 January 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one day prior to her ninety-third birthday.
Submitted by Jenna Wuensche, Researcher
Source: Jules Heller and Nancy G. Heller, North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century
Additional Resources (Internet Sources):
http://www.michenermuseum.org/ James A. Michener Art Museum, Bucks County Artists, Interactive Database
http://www.postmarks.org/photos/ Post Office Photos, Strasburg, Virginia Post Office
* For more in-depth information about
these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary
http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx
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Biography from Gallery C:
|  Sarah Blakeslee was born in Evanston, Illinois on January 13th, 1912, the same year Jackson Pollock was born. Her formal education in art began in 1926, when at the age of 13 she attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Shortly thereafter she moved to Washington, D.C. and took classes under Catherine Critcher during her senior year of high school. With persuasion from Critcher, Sarah began studying at the Corcoran School of Art in 1930. In 1931, she left the Corcoran and went to Chester Springs Pennsylvania to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. At the time, it was considered one of the best en plein aire schools in the nation. Sarah was awarded the Cresson Traveling Scholarship in 1933 and returned to Philadelphia to continue her studies at the other campus of the Pennsylvania Academy. She was awarded a second Cresson in the Spring of 1934 and traveled to Europe a second time. After taking additional classes at the Corcoran upon finishing at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, she married Francis Speight on November 7, 1936.
Returning to Pennsylvania from a honeymoon in North Carolina, Sarah began exhibiting her work at the Corcoran during their annual exhibitions in 1937 and 1938. She also painted a mural for a post office in Virginia and exhibited work at the 48th Annual Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago during this time.
After her formal training in impressionism and realism, and gaining experience as an en plein aire landscape painter, she spent the years from 1938 to 1964 exhibiting in many venues and working as a portrait painter. She participated in the Golden Gate International Exhibition in San Francisco and the New York World’s Fair. Blakeslee’s artwork can be found in numerous museums collections including the North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina State University, Greenville Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
In 1961 Sarah Blakeslee and her husband Francis Speight relocated from Pennsylvania to Greenville, North Carolina where Speight took a teaching position at East Carolina University. Sarah continued to paint and teach at various art centers in Greenville, Kinston, Washington, and Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Blakeslee returned to Pennsylvania following her husband’s death and lived near her children until her death in 2005.
Sources:
Greenville Museum of Art Catalogue, Sarah Blakeslee: A Retrospective. 1993.
York, Maurice C. The Privilege to Paint. Greenville Museum of Art. 2002.
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