Richard Blake,FNSS: The Medal of Honor Recipient of the National Sculpture Society

Civil Rights & American Heroes

The studio was originally a barn with horse stalls. It now houses Blake’s space for his contemplation and interrogation of the human figures and of American history. The studio door opens to a large workspace. There are several easels with sketches on them. Antique cabinets are filled with books and various tools are buttressing the corners of the room. Handfuls of plastic buckets are on the floor; some with plaster in them; others with clay and a plastic bag placed over the top. Numerous podiums displaying maquettes are scattered around the room, and on shelves a couple of clusters of them mingle with Japanese anime figures shrouded by translucent trails. Among the many figures that stood out was a maquette of a young Frederick Douglass nestled between a figurine of Abraham Lincoln and a small classical cast. The Douglass’ maquette was at least ten times smaller than the monument that is on the campus of West Chester University where Blake taught as a full professor and was granted the Professor Emeritus status. The site also marks the location of Douglass’s last public speech and celebrates his long association with the University. Not far in front of Mr. Douglass stands a maquette of a Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.’s monument in Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey. Overlooking the two men is a bust of Rosa Parks, created as a study for a national competition for the Congressional Statuary Hall and is now in the collection of the Architects of the Capitol in Washington D.C. It is as if these figures came together to retell the history of the Civil Rights Movement, but the arrangement is by chance. If an artist’s studio offers a glimpse of their mind, then Blake’s mind is certainly studded with the American heroes and their life stories.

If an artist’s studio offers a glimpse of their mind, then Blake’s mind is certainly studded with the American heroes and their life stories.

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Woman On A Folding Chair

Location: Artist Collection

Materials: Bronze on wood base

Dimensions: 25”h x 15.5”w x 15”d

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Young Frederick Douglass seated on Mooring Ropes Contemplating his new found freedom (right side view)

Location: Abolitionist Row Park, New Bedford Massachusetts

Materials: Bronze & Granite

Dimensions: 7 ft.h x 4.5 ft.w x4 ft.d

Blake walks through a dim room filled with drawings and plaster casts with screws protruding around the edges. Hanging on the wall are a few sculptural reliefs and plaster studies of hands and feet. White half busts are affixed against a still whiter wall. In the dark, they appear as if they can reveal themselves to greet any visitors. Various maquettes from Blake’s Third World Women series leisurely sit on top of a German World War II cabinet won at an auction years ago. Blake is standing at the far end of the room. He pushes open a door and a flood of light dispels the shadows in the room. The door opens to a lower-level studio where Blake works on his monumental sculpture. There are a few plants potted by the staircase landing, enlivening the spacious workshop. Various plastic buckets and make-shift benches made of wood planks of varying sizes are placed in different corners. Power tools are scattered on benches and a number of small containers hold the rasps and files that have been used that day. On one side of the studio stands a life-size monument of Dr. King. It is a preparatory study of the monument for the Peace Gardens in California State University. On the wall, behind Dr. King is a framed charcoal portrait of Frederick Douglass. Both men stare intensely in the same direction into the studio.

On the other side of the studio is a replica of Frederick Douglass—The Abolitionist. This version wears a mask made of a fabric that resembles the star-spangled banner. Blake’s eyes squint, he smiles and says in a bit of mischief, “I just put it there as a statement about the COVID Era and also Black Lives Matter—I also wanted to see what it would look like.” Before the pandemic, Blake was commissioned to create a second Frederick Douglass Monument for a new park in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Because of the lockdown and the ensuing logistic chaos, what would have typically taken six months to a year to complete took close to two plus years. But Blake’s excitement for the monument is unwavering. “The sculpture is finished; we are waiting for the park to be done.” Despite the whimsical adornment, Mr. Douglass looks as majestic as its bronze-casted counterpart. In a contrapposto stance, Douglass holds a broken rope in his right hand, a symbol of his own emancipation. His left hand grasps the cane bequeathed to him by Abraham Lincoln, giving him support as he strides forward. In Blake’s monument, the aesthetics are equally as important as the historical references, as this is where the historian among the spectators may spot the cane, which was a gift from Lincoln. But these qualities are not just in Blake’s monuments; they are also found in his other sculptural works. Former Museum Director and Blake’s long-time friend Gordon Alt enjoys the symbolism in Blake’s Third World Women series. He says, “The various ‘furniture and elements’ he adds to the composition reframe our view and shape our understanding of the work.”

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Artist with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., I’ve Been To The Mountaintop

Location: Fairleigh Dickinson University at the River Walk, Teaneck, N.J.

Materials: Bronze, Granite, pavers (30 foot wall with polished granite cap inscribed with quotes )

Dimensions: 10 ft.h x 4 ft.w x 4 ft.d

cdronsfield@att.net

Third World Women

In the studio, there are not just abolitionist heroes and Civil Right leaders. At the center of the studio stands a pedestal, on it rests a female figure. It is a sculpture from Blake’s Third World Women series. When viewed from the side, her pose resembles the fetal position. From the front, she is resting in a pigeon pose. Her left leg is crossed over the base of the sculpture, the other leg, firmly planted on the plinth. She leans forward and drapes her wrist across her calf, and on it she rests her head. A piece of textured fabric, perhaps a wrap blouse, shrouds over her head and hugs along the arch of her back. Her skirt traces the contour of her stout legs. Cloud is the title of the piece, but Blake refers to her as the “charwoman.” The lady appears to be resting from a hard day’s work, though Blake says she is not a lady. “I wanted to make sure she is not lady-like,” Blake maintains. “She is a grown woman.” Blake did not intend these women to be “ladies,” but as equal to any men. Beyond the aesthetics, central to this series are inner strength and raw vitality.

The 19-piece series depicts women at rest, yet still exuding power. Through these women and their internal strength, Blake uses the series as a metaphor for humanity that is reframed as “humankind,” as opposed to the presupposed and male-centric “mankind.” Though the figures are not specific to any geographical regions or ethnicity, as the title of the series suggests, these women are from the “third world,” highlighting the strength belonging to women of color. The series includes a sculpture entitled Polly Cooper, a homage to the greatest relics of the Oneida people. Another piece, entitled Rita (Grandmother), is a woman with high cheekbones and muscular limbs, who is leisurely sitting on her sculptural base. Iguana Woman depicts a woman with high cheekbones and slanted eyes. She is wearing a head wrap and is resting with an Iguana on her knee. “Third world” describes the conditions in which women are chronically overworked and underpaid—overachieving but underappreciated. They are the women who shoulder the familial burden regardless of personal circumstances—the single mothers who work many jobs, the grandmothers who always bring the family back together, the women who rise early and rest late, putting their family before themselves. Similar to his monumental work, Blake draws attention to those whose sacrifices and contributions are too great to leave unrecognized. “These are the women who should be applauded but are often dismissed,” Blake says.

The series draws inspiration from the strong women in Blake’s own family. The 19 sculptures in the series collectively explore a resilience that is contemplative; a kind of strength that is subtle, as well as power that needs no words. Blake points at another sculpture just behind the charwoman. This one is titled Woman in a Folding Chair. “I wanted to give her the raw feeling that I get from African and Pre-Columbian art. I wanted her to be sheer power.” The power that Blake, in his solo show, has likened to the unassuming force of a black panther, resting in the shades, with its tail swaying forcefully, observing and gazing at any spectator. The Woman in a Folding Chair and several other figures in the series look directly at the audience, on one hand demanding acknowledgment and, on the other forcing the audience to confront their own identities. “I want her to be grandma, with the stare that freezes you.” For Blake, the force behind this freezing gaze counters the classical male gaze that exoticized women of color. In Blake’s artist statement, it reads: “Previously, when Non-European or women of color were the subject in art, these women were distorted and used as romantic objects.”

“Previously, when Non-European or women of color were the subject in art, these women were distorted and used as romantic objects.”

Of course, Blake’s series is the product of his own gaze, yet what differentiates his gaze from the classical one is his approach and his intended audience. The sculptures in this series exude the thoughtfulness, the complexities and the spiritual vitality he observes from women in his family. They seek to empower, but not through exoticism. In other words, these are not sexualized objects created only for male appreciation. They are monumental sculptures that speak to the entire gender spectrum about the feminine resilience, courage and perseverance that Blake is familiar with. They avert the classical male gaze with a stare that says, “See me, but don’t mess with me, if you would.”

Influence by Constructivism

Trained in drawing, painting, and figurative sculpture as a boy, Blake embarked on a journey to explore Constructivism. The Third World Women series began when Blake’s Constructivist pursuit ceased. It marked Blakes’s return to figurative sculpture. In his experience, not many sculptors traverse between the figurative and the abstract. “The abstract people and the figurative people do not often understand each other,” he says. Yet Blake’s mastery in both styles equips him with a symbol of his self-emancipation view, affording him the clarity to identify what he calls the “common denominator” between figuration and abstraction. Whether it be rectilinear, curvilinear, or figurative shapes, for Blake, there is a common ground to be found in the aesthetics. But perhaps what allows Blake to phase between the two worlds is also a pursuit of the essence he sees in his subjects. Over his Constructivist years, as Blake learned to express the inherent qualities of industrial materials, he pondered on techniques that would allow him to imbue humanity in his figurative work. From Douglass’s implied movements that are accentuated by his counterpose, to the Iguana Woman’s hooded eyes that are looking inwards for fortitude—these techniques have become the lingua franca in Blake’s sculptural vocabulary. “There is lyrical rhythm inherent in the human form,” and it was this rhythm that ultimately drew Blake back to figuration.

As the afternoon grows old, Blake wraps up his work in the studio. There are still a few hours of sunlight, but the neighbor’s field is now empty. The Maine Coon cat that disappeared now paces at the front door, craving attention, but Blake’s day isn’t over. He walks past the cat and into his house, then settles into his desk and starts clacking on a laptop. He is researching for his upcoming projects. Blake is the finalist for the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project at Great Barrington, Massachusetts; and the City of Philadelphia has also announced him as a semi-finalist for the city’s permanent Harriet Tubman statue that will be installed at the city hall.

The late sculptor and past President of NSS, Neil Estern, once extolled Blake’s sculptural sensibility, saying, “His [Blake’s] understanding of the human figure and his sensitivity to three-dimensional form is clearly evident. The brooding sensuality of some of his figures creates a mood which immediately engages the viewers.”

As the Abolition Row Park in New Bedford is slated to open this spring, more viewers will be able to connect with the local history and with Blake’s Frederick Douglass monument. But for Blake, it is exciting to see that young visitors will have a chance to connect with a young Douglass who has just arrived at New Bedford, both 185 years ago, and again, this spring. ●

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Iguana Woman

Materials: Bronze & stone

Dimensions: 30”h x 19”w x 22”d