Ralph Blakelock was born in New York and initially studied to be a physician, though he did not complete his education. Instead, he wandered the American West from 1869–1872, spending a great deal of time amongst various Native American tribes. He settled in New York, maintaining a studio in the same building as William Merritt Chase and Frederick Church. He exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design and was eventually named to the Academy in 1916. That same year one of his landscapes sold for $20,000, a record for the sale of a painting by a living American artist. No longer the painting’s owner, Blakelock earned nothing from the sale.
Blakelock’s personal and artistic life were tragic. Early in his career he had difficulty selling his art and was unable to support his large family. In 1890, he was hospitalized for depression. He recovered and returned to painting but, in 1899, was institutionalized for schizophrenia and spent the remainder of his life in the hospital, making art with whatever materials he had on hand.