Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002

Among those American artists who revolted against European conventions toward the end of the century was George Inness Jr. (1864-1926), also of Montclair. A landscape painter like his father, he was -- like his father again -- forward looking in his attitude toward painters' problems. Ralph Blakelock (1847-1919) of Orange was even more radical in his approach. His fantastic and imaginative art reached its height in his moonlight studies which have been termed "as individualistic as those of Albert Pinkham Ryder." Blakelock shared the elder Inness's interest in color and emotion but lacked the benefits of his original emphasis on detail.

Two New Jersey sculptors of the same period who helped break the bands of neoclassic traditions, which had so limited American work, were J. Scott Hartley (1845-1912) and Thomas Ball (1819-1911), both of Montclair. The latter is especially significant for his equestrian "Washington" and the "Emancipation" statue in Boston. The outstanding sculpture in the State today is not, however, the work of New Jersey men. It includes the Newark figures of Gutzon Borglum, the Princeton Battle Monument by Frederick MacMonnies, and the Trenton Battle Monument by John Duncan.

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