Charles Burchfield

(American, 1893–1967)

Charles Burchfield was an American artist whose watercolor depictions of nature seem to hum with light and movement. Often focusing on scenes in his immediate surroundings—neighbors’ homes, wintry forests, and blooming wildflowers—Burchfield developed a unique stylization of form while maintaining a perceptive sense of weather and light. “It seems at times I should be a composer of sounds, not only of rhythms and colors,” he once remarked. “Walking under the trees, I felt as if the color made sound.” Born Charles Ephraim Burchfield in Ashtabula Harbor, OH on April 9, 1893, he studied at the Cleveland School of Art and later supported himself as a wallpaper designer for M.H. Birge & Sons Company in Buffalo, NY. While living in the town of West Seneca a suburb of Buffalo, he painted the surrounding landscape and industrial scenes, motifs similar to those of his friend the painter Edward Hopper. In 1930, the artist was the subject a solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, “Charles Burchfield: Early Watercolors 1916–18,” and in December 1936, Life magazine anointed him as one of America’s 10 greatest painters. During the 1940s, the artist created his most hallucinatory works, including the mystical Four Seasons (1949-1960), which with its exaggerated cathedral-like forms, depicts the seasonal transition of a forest over a calendar year. A month before his death on January 11, 1967 in West Seneca, NY, Buffalo State College honored his work by creating the Charles E. Burchfield Center. It holds the largest public collection of his works, over 70 volumes of his journals, and a scale re-creation of his studio. His works are also held in the collections of the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, among others.

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Charles Burchfield Artworks

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

Charles Burchfield (1,152 results)
Crows in march, 1952

Charles Burchfield

Crows in march, 1952

Sale Date: June 16, 2013

Auction Closed

melted Frost on Shed Roof, 1916

Charles Burchfield

melted Frost on Shed Roof, 1916

Sale Date: June 16, 2013

Auction Closed

April 1916, 1916

Charles Burchfield

April 1916, 1916

Sale Date: June 16, 2013

Auction Closed

March 1916, 1916

Charles Burchfield

March 1916, 1916

Sale Date: June 16, 2013

Auction Closed

An Afternoon, 1916

Charles Burchfield

An Afternoon, 1916

Sale Date: June 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Nature), 1959–1960

Charles Burchfield

Untitled (Nature), 1959–1960

Sale Date: June 8, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled (Cicadas), 1959–1960

Charles Burchfield

Untitled (Cicadas), 1959–1960

Sale Date: June 8, 2013

Auction Closed

March Afternoon, 1951

Charles Burchfield

March Afternoon, 1951

Sale Date: May 23, 2013

Auction Closed

Sun and Snowstorm, 1917

Charles Burchfield

Sun and Snowstorm, 1917

Sale Date: May 23, 2013

Auction Closed

Long House, North of Wyoming Village, 1951

Charles Burchfield

Long House, North of Wyoming Village, 1951

Sale Date: May 23, 2013

Auction Closed

Crows at Twilight, 1948

Charles Burchfield

Crows at Twilight, 1948

Sale Date: May 23, 2013

Auction Closed

Three Ringed Moon, 1916

Charles Burchfield

Three Ringed Moon, 1916

Sale Date: May 23, 2013

Auction Closed

Fence and Locust Tree, 1947

Charles Burchfield

Fence and Locust Tree, 1947

Sale Date: May 22, 2013

Auction Closed

The Ginger Bread Boy

Charles Burchfield

The Ginger Bread Boy

Sale Date: May 8, 2013

Auction Closed

The Branches, 1917

Charles Burchfield

The Branches, 1917

Sale Date: May 8, 2013

Auction Closed

Autumn Wind, 1951

Charles Burchfield

Autumn Wind, 1951

Sale Date: March 7, 2013

Auction Closed

Cicada song in the woods, 1960

Charles Burchfield

Cicada song in the woods, 1960

Sale Date: January 20, 2013

Auction Closed

The Woodpecker, 1955–1964

Charles Burchfield

The Woodpecker, 1955–1964

Sale Date: November 28, 2012

Auction Closed

A Sea of Queen Anne's Lace, 1962–1963

Charles Burchfield

A Sea of Queen Anne's Lace, 1962–1963

Sale Date: November 28, 2012

Auction Closed

Golden Dream, 1959

Charles Burchfield

Golden Dream, 1959

Sale Date: November 28, 2012

Auction Closed

Hot Morning, 1915

Charles Burchfield

Hot Morning, 1915

Sale Date: November 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Brook, 1916

Charles Burchfield

Brook, 1916

Sale Date: November 13, 2012

Auction Closed

Summer Grove

Charles Burchfield

Summer Grove

Sale Date: November 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Plant Formation Study: (i) Plant Formation Study

Charles Burchfield

Plant Formation Study: (i) Plant Formation Study

Sale Date: October 10, 2012

Auction Closed

English (US)

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