Russian Gulch, California

While traveling in the American West, Ralph Blakelock produced more than a hundred on-the-spot sketches, including these drawings of Point Arena and Russian Gulch, sites along the coast north of San Francisco. As is typical of this body of work, he executed each image in pencil and then traced over his graphite line in ink. While forms are described in economical outlines with minimal shading, his animated line—featuring jagged dashes, twists, and loops—foretells the expressive and idiosyncratic nature of his mature art.