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.

Charles Burchfield Artworks

Charles Burchfield (1,152 results)
Landscape Study (3 works)

Charles Burchfield

Landscape Study (3 works)

Sale Date: October 10, 2012

Auction Closed

Camp Jackson, South Carolina, 1918

Charles Burchfield

Camp Jackson, South Carolina, 1918

Sale Date: September 28, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled (Orange Yellow Leaves...)

Charles Burchfield

Untitled (Orange Yellow Leaves...)

Sale Date: August 15, 2012

Auction Closed

End of Fifth St. (At Hawley Ave), Salem, Ohio, 1917

Charles Burchfield

End of Fifth St. (At Hawley Ave), Salem, Ohio, 1917

Sale Date: May 16, 2012

Auction Closed

Sunrise in the Forest, 1917

Charles Burchfield

Sunrise in the Forest, 1917

Sale Date: May 16, 2012

Auction Closed

Snow flurries in November, 1915

Charles Burchfield

Snow flurries in November, 1915

Sale Date: May 15, 2012

Auction Closed

November Wind At Dusk, 1946–1959

Charles Burchfield

November Wind At Dusk, 1946–1959

Sale Date: May 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Scene on Windspear Road, 1935

Charles Burchfield

Scene on Windspear Road, 1935

Sale Date: May 5, 2012

Auction Closed

Study for Skunk Cabbage, 1931

Charles Burchfield

Study for Skunk Cabbage, 1931

Sale Date: May 5, 2012

Auction Closed

Barbershop, 1918

Charles Burchfield

Barbershop, 1918

Sale Date: April 26, 2012

Auction Closed

Carolina village (Camden, South Carolina), 1923–1926

Charles Burchfield

Carolina village (Camden, South Carolina), 1923–1926

Sale Date: April 23, 2012

Auction Closed

Carolina village (Camden, South Carolina), 1923–1926

Charles Burchfield

Carolina village (Camden, South Carolina), 1923–1926

Sale Date: March 8, 2012

Auction Closed

Patriot's house, 1917

Charles Burchfield

Patriot's house, 1917

Sale Date: March 1, 2012

Auction Closed

Cliff dwellers (on joined sheets), 1919–1920

Charles Burchfield

Cliff dwellers (on joined sheets), 1919–1920

Sale Date: March 1, 2012

Auction Closed

Clearing after a snowstorm (on joined sheets), 1917

Charles Burchfield

Clearing after a snowstorm (on joined sheets), 1917

Sale Date: March 1, 2012

Auction Closed

Maytime in the woods, 1948–1961

Charles Burchfield

Maytime in the woods, 1948–1961

Sale Date: November 30, 2011

Auction Closed

The distant boom of thunder, 1965–1966

Charles Burchfield

The distant boom of thunder, 1965–1966

Sale Date: November 30, 2011

Auction Closed

Night landscape, 1916

Charles Burchfield

Night landscape, 1916

Sale Date: November 30, 2011

Auction Closed

The frosted window, 1940

Charles Burchfield

The frosted window, 1940

Sale Date: November 30, 2011

Auction Closed

Lane through September woods, 1953

Charles Burchfield

Lane through September woods, 1953

Sale Date: October 22, 2011

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1953

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1953

Sale Date: October 26, 2011

Auction Closed

Sun rays and windy trees, 1914

Charles Burchfield

Sun rays and windy trees, 1914

Sale Date: September 10, 2011

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1953

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1953

Sale Date: September 22, 2011

Auction Closed

Landscape with sunset, 1916

Charles Burchfield

Landscape with sunset, 1916

Sale Date: September 17, 2011

Auction Closed