A late series of 22 watercolours inspired by the Book of Job includes some of his best-known pictures. He was called mad because he was single-minded and unworldly; he lived on the edge of poverty and died in neglect. His books form one of the most strikingly original and inde¬ pendent bodies of work in the Western cultural tradition. Ignored by the public of his day, he is now regarded as one of the earliest and greatest figures of Romanticism.
Blakelock, Ralph (b. Oct. 15, 1847, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Aug. 9, 1919, near Elizabethtown, N.Y.) U.S. painter. A self-taught artist, he developed a highly original and subjective style of landscape painting, characterized by luminous impasto images of moonlit scenes with noc¬ turnal lighting and strangely dappled trees and foliage. Neglected by the public and constantly under the strain of poverty, he suffered a breakdown in 1899, ceased to paint, and spent the rest of his life in an asylum. Dur¬ ing his confinement he achieved some fame, and forgeries of his work became common as his popularity rose.
Blakeslee, Albert Francis (b. Nov. 9, 1874, Geneseo, N.Y., U.S.—d. Nov. 16, 1954, Northampton, Mass.) U.S. botanist and geneticist. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. In his dissertation he became the first person to describe sexuality in the lower fungi. His later experi¬ mental work focused on higher plants. After a long tenure with the Car¬ negie Institution’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1915—41), he joined the faculty of Smith College, where he published a series of papers on the genetics and cell biology of jimsonweed. He used the alkaloid colchicine
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William Blake, watercolour portrait by John Linnell; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Blakey ► Blasis I 231
to achieve an increase in the number of chromosomes and thus opened up a new field of artificially produced polyploids.
Blakey, Art later Abdullah Ibn Buhaina (b. Oct. 11, 1919, Pitts¬ burgh, Pa., U.S.—d. Oct. 16, 1990, New York, N.Y.) U.S. jazz drummer and bandleader. He worked with Fletcher Henderson’s big band before joining Billy Eckstine’s forward-looking ensemble (1944-47). Blakey’s prodigious technique and thunderous attack assured his role as one of the principal drum stylists in modern jazz. With Horace Silver, Blakey formed the Jazz Messengers in 1954, and the group, with its aggressive blues- inflected approach, became the archetypal hard-bop unit (see bebop).
Blalock Vbla-JakV Alfred (b. April 5, 1899, Culloden, Ga., U.S.—d. Sept. 15, 1964, Baltimore, Md.) U.S. surgeon. He received an M.D. from Johns Hopkins University. His research, showing that traumatic and hem¬ orrhagic shock resulted from loss of blood volume, led to volume- replacement treatment, which saved countless lives during World War II. He is remembered for his development, with Helen Brooke Taussig, of a surgical treatment for heart malformations in newborns. In 1944 he per¬ formed the first subclavian-pulmonary artery anastomosis operation, which corrected the birth defect.
His balloon flights in other European countries and in the U.S. in 1793 spurred an interest in ballooning. He and his wife performed many exhibitions in Europe; they died in separate balloon accidents.
Blanchard Vblan-chordV, Thomas (b. June 24, 1788, Sutton, Mass., U.S.—d. April 16, 1864, Boston, Mass.) U.S. inventor. In 1818 he invented a lathe capable of turning irregular shapes, such as a gunstock. It duplicated the form of a pattern object by transmitting to the cutting tool the motion of a friction wheel rolling over the pattern. His invention was an essential step in the development of mass production techniques. He produced several successful designs of shallow-draft steamboats, and in 1849 he invented machinery for bending wood into complex shapes such as plow handles and ship’s frames.
Blanda, George (Frederick) (b. Sept. 17, 1927, Youngwood, Pa., U.S.) U.S. football player. He played for the University of Kentucky. As a professional quarterback and kicker, he played for the Chicago Bears (1949-58), Houston Oilers (1960-66), and Oakland Raiders (1967-76), setting still-standing records for most seasons played (26), most games played (340), and most points after touchdowns (943). His record for most field goals (335) was broken in 1983.
blank verse Unrhymed verse, specifically unrhymed iambic pentam¬ eter, the preeminent dramatic and narrative verse form in English. It is also the standard form for dramatic verse in Italian and German. Adapted from Greek and Latin sources, it was introduced in Italy, then in England, where in the 16th century William Shakespeare transformed blank verse into a vehicle for the greatest English dramatic poetry, and its potential for grandeur was confirmed with John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667).
Blanqui \bla n -'ke\, (Louis-) Auguste (b. Feb. 1, 1805, Puget- Theniers, France—d. Jan. 1, 1881, Paris) French socialist and revolution¬ ary. A legendary martyr-figure of French radicalism, Blanqui believed that there could be no socialist transformation of society without a temporary dictatorship that would eradicate the old order. His activities, including the formation of various secret societies, caused him to be imprisoned various times for a total of more than 33 years. His disciples, the Blan- quists, played an important role in the history of the workers’ movement even after his death.
blanquillo See tilefish
Blanton, Jimmy orig. James Blanton (b. October 1918, Chatta¬ nooga, Tenn., U.S.—d. July 30, 1942, Monrovia, Calif.) U.S. jazz musi¬ cian. He joined Duke Ellington’s orchestra as a string bass player in 1939. Blanton’s buoyant rhythmic approach and harmonic subtlety provided a supple, relaxed sense of swing for the band. His unprecedented dexterity, tone, and intonation enabled him to execute a melodic conception of the role of the bass in jazz, demonstrated on recordings made with Ellington such as “Jack the Bear” and “Pitter Panther Patter.” His revolutionary technique changed jazz bass playing and became the major influence on subsequent bassists. He died of tuberculosis.
Blantyre \blan-'tlr\ City (pop., 2003 est.: 646,235), southern Malawi. It is the largest city in Malawi and the seat of the country’s judiciary. Blantyre was founded in 1876 as a Church of Scotland mission station and named after explorer David Livingstone’s Scottish birthplace. It became a British consular post in 1883 and attained municipal status in 1895; it is Malawi’s oldest municipality. Its colonial trade laid the foundation for its present importance as Malawi’s chief commercial centre. In 1956 Blan¬ tyre was united with nearby Limbe.
Blarney Village (pop., 2002: 2,146), County Cork, Ireland. Situated northwest of the city of Cork, it is famous as the site of Blarney Castle (c. 1446). Below the battlements on the southern castle wall is the Blar¬ ney Stone, which in local legend is said to confer eloquence on anyone who kisses it.
Blasco Ibanez Vblas-ko-e-'ban-yathX, Vicente (b. Jan. 29, 1867, Valencia, Spain—d. Jan. 28, 1928, Menton, France) Spanish writer and politician. An ardent republican, he was elected to the Cortes (parliament) but later settled on the French Riviera because of his opposition to the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. His early novels are pri¬ marily intense depictions of life in Valencia. He achieved world renown for his novels dealing with World War I, especially The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1916).
Blasis \'bla-ses. Carlo (b. Nov. 4, 1803, Naples, Kingdom of Naples—d. Jan. 15, 1878, Cernobbio, Italy) Italian ballet teacher and
Blanc \'bla n \, (Jean-Joseph-Charles-) Louis (b. Oct. 29, 1811, Madrid, Spain—d. Dec. 6, 1882,
Cannes, France) French utopian socialist and journalist. In 1839 he founded the socialist newspaper Revue du Progres and serially pub¬ lished his The Organization of Labour , which described his theory of worker-controlled “social work¬ shops” that would gradually take over production until a socialist soci¬ ety came into being. He was a mem¬ ber of the provisional government of the Second Republic (1848) but was forced to flee to England after work¬ ers unsuccessfully revolted. In exile (1848-70), he wrote a history of the French Revolution and other politi¬ cal works.