Description

1848-1936

Blashfield studied engineering at MIT in the class of 1869 before leaving for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. At the encouragement of William Morris Hunt, Blashfield traveled to Paris to study painting. Morris introduced Blashfield to Jean-Léon Gérôme, who in turn sent him to study with Léon Bonnat. Bonnat was known for rigorous religious and history painting as well as for dynamic portraits of contemporary celebrities—a combination of influences especially present in Blashfield’s mural work. Bonnat taught many prominent French painters including Gustave Caillebotte and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec as well as American artists including Blashfield, John Singer Sargent, and Thomas Eakins. After thirteen years in Europe Blashfield returned to the United States. While he made many easel paintings throughout his career, Blashfield’s primary output was murals. Blashfield viewed his profession as a significant vocation, saying: “public and municipal art is public and municipal education, and the decoration of public buildings is the most important question in the construction of our art of the future”. His murals adorn prominent public buildings including the Library of Congress, the Cathedral Church of the Savior in Philadelphia, and the State Capitols of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. -JD