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)
Spring landscape, 1953–1953

Charles Burchfield

Spring landscape, 1953–1953

Sale Date: May 18, 2004

Auction Closed

Noonday heat, 1921–1921

Charles Burchfield

Noonday heat, 1921–1921

Sale Date: May 18, 2004

Auction Closed

Spring twilight, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Spring twilight, 1916–1916

Sale Date: March 31, 2004

Auction Closed

Landscape, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Landscape, 1916–1916

Sale Date: March 31, 2004

Auction Closed

Two ravines, 1962–1962

Charles Burchfield

Two ravines, 1962–1962

Sale Date: December 19, 2003

Auction Closed

Thunderclap in winter, 1960–1960

Charles Burchfield

Thunderclap in winter, 1960–1960

Sale Date: December 19, 2003

Auction Closed

Double-sided doodle

Charles Burchfield

Double-sided doodle

Sale Date: December 7, 2003

Auction Closed

Autumn twilight, 1920–1920

Charles Burchfield

Autumn twilight, 1920–1920

Sale Date: December 4, 2003

Auction Closed

View southeast of Emporium, 1941–1941

Charles Burchfield

View southeast of Emporium, 1941–1941

Sale Date: December 4, 2003

Auction Closed

Brooding bird, 1919–1919

Charles Burchfield

Brooding bird, 1919–1919

Sale Date: December 4, 2003

Auction Closed

Landscape with clouds, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Landscape with clouds, 1916–1916

Sale Date: December 3, 2003

Auction Closed

Suburban street, 1948–1948

Charles Burchfield

Suburban street, 1948–1948

Sale Date: December 2, 2003

Auction Closed

Doodle

Charles Burchfield

Doodle

Sale Date: November 8, 2003

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Sale Date: October 25, 2003

Auction Closed

Circus parade, 1923–1923

Charles Burchfield

Circus parade, 1923–1923

Sale Date: October 9, 2003

Auction Closed

The Golden Gate Bridge seen from the roof-tops...

Charles Burchfield

The Golden Gate Bridge seen from the roof-tops...

Sale Date: October 9, 2003

Auction Closed

Winter twilight in the village, 1918–1918

Charles Burchfield

Winter twilight in the village, 1918–1918

Sale Date: September 21, 2003

Auction Closed

Barn and road

Charles Burchfield

Barn and road

Sale Date: September 21, 2003

Auction Closed

Landscape, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Landscape, 1916–1916

Sale Date: September 20, 2003

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Sale Date: June 14, 2003

Auction Closed

The song of the katydids on an August..., 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

The song of the katydids on an August..., 1917–1917

Sale Date: May 21, 2003

Auction Closed

Snowstorm (The first snow), 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Snowstorm (The first snow), 1916–1916

Sale Date: May 21, 2003

Auction Closed

Along the inter-urban car line, 1918–1918

Charles Burchfield

Along the inter-urban car line, 1918–1918

Sale Date: May 21, 2003

Auction Closed

Crows in March, 1952–1952

Charles Burchfield

Crows in March, 1952–1952

Sale Date: May 2, 2003

Auction Closed

English (US)

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