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

Charles Burchfield (1,152 results)

Blizzard in the woods

Charles Burchfield

Blizzard in the woods

Sale Date: May 17, 2001

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Sale Date: March 20, 2001

Auction Closed

Poplars in May (Between two poplars), 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Poplars in May (Between two poplars), 1916–1916

Sale Date: March 14, 2001

Auction Closed

Entrance to stables, Camp Jackson,..., 1918–1918

Charles Burchfield

Entrance to stables, Camp Jackson,..., 1918–1918

Sale Date: March 14, 2001

Auction Closed

Windswept trees and houses, 1949–1949

Charles Burchfield

Windswept trees and houses, 1949–1949

Sale Date: December 5, 2000

Auction Closed

Swamp fire in March, 1920–1960

Charles Burchfield

Swamp fire in March, 1920–1960

Sale Date: November 30, 2000

Auction Closed

Winter, 1918–1918

Charles Burchfield

Winter, 1918–1918

Sale Date: November 30, 2000

Auction Closed

Wild sweet peas in a summer rain, 1965–1965

Charles Burchfield

Wild sweet peas in a summer rain, 1965–1965

Sale Date: November 30, 2000

Auction Closed

The butterfly tree, 1960–1960

Charles Burchfield

The butterfly tree, 1960–1960

Sale Date: November 30, 2000

Auction Closed

November bloom, 1938–1938

Charles Burchfield

November bloom, 1938–1938

Sale Date: November 30, 2000

Auction Closed

Sultry moon, 1959–1959

Charles Burchfield

Sultry moon, 1959–1959

Sale Date: November 30, 2000

Auction Closed

Mozart

Charles Burchfield

Sale Date: October 22, 2000

Auction Closed

Doodle

Charles Burchfield

Sale Date: July 30, 2000

Auction Closed

Dandelion field, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Dandelion field, 1916–1916

Sale Date: June 15, 2000

Auction Closed

House corner in spring, 1942–1942

Charles Burchfield

House corner in spring, 1942–1942

Sale Date: May 25, 2000

Auction Closed

Lighted window, 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

Lighted window, 1917–1917

Sale Date: May 25, 2000

Auction Closed

Forest fire in moonlight, 1920–1920

Charles Burchfield

Forest fire in moonlight, 1920–1920

Sale Date: May 25, 2000

Auction Closed

Doodle

Charles Burchfield

Sale Date: May 7, 2000

Auction Closed

Doodle

Charles Burchfield

Sale Date: May 7, 2000

Auction Closed

Doodle

Charles Burchfield

Sale Date: May 7, 2000

Auction Closed

Spring runoff, 1939–1939

Charles Burchfield

Spring runoff, 1939–1939

Sale Date: May 3, 2000

Auction Closed

Summer benediction

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction

Sale Date: March 25, 2000

Auction Closed

Untitled

Charles Burchfield

Sale Date: March 15, 2000

Auction Closed

Landscape with trees, 1956–1956

Charles Burchfield

Landscape with trees, 1956–1956

Sale Date: March 15, 2000

Auction Closed

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