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)
Song of the telegraph, 1917–1953

Charles Burchfield

Song of the telegraph, 1917–1953

Sale Date: December 3, 1998

Auction Closed

August afternoon in the Alleghenies, 1959–1961

Charles Burchfield

August afternoon in the Alleghenies, 1959–1961

Sale Date: December 3, 1998

Auction Closed

Looking westward across Pine Hollow, 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

Looking westward across Pine Hollow, 1917–1917

Sale Date: December 3, 1998

Auction Closed

Fallen tree, 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

Fallen tree, 1917–1917

Sale Date: December 2, 1998

Auction Closed

Russian giant sunflower, 1940–1940

Charles Burchfield

Russian giant sunflower, 1940–1940

Sale Date: December 2, 1998

Auction Closed

Wind swept trees

Charles Burchfield

Wind swept trees

Sale Date: December 2, 1998

Auction Closed

Forest ravine, 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

Forest ravine, 1917–1917

Sale Date: December 2, 1998

Auction Closed

Sunflower , 1915–1915

Charles Burchfield

Sunflower , 1915–1915

Sale Date: December 2, 1998

Auction Closed

Porch and house, 1919–1919

Charles Burchfield

Porch and house, 1919–1919

Sale Date: October 10, 1998

Auction Closed

The porch sitters, 1919–1919

Charles Burchfield

The porch sitters, 1919–1919

Sale Date: October 10, 1998

Auction Closed

Flowers, 1953–1953

Charles Burchfield

Flowers, 1953–1953

Sale Date: September 25, 1998

Auction Closed

Abandoned mine, 1919–1919

Charles Burchfield

Abandoned mine, 1919–1919

Sale Date: September 24, 1998

Auction Closed

Sun rays and windy trees, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Sun rays and windy trees, 1916–1916

Sale Date: September 24, 1998

Auction Closed

Landscape with darkened sky, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Landscape with darkened sky, 1916–1916

Sale Date: September 24, 1998

Auction Closed

Tree

Charles Burchfield

Tree

Sale Date: August 5, 1998

Auction Closed

June wind, 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

June wind, 1917–1917

Sale Date: July 10, 1998

Auction Closed

November sunlight, 1953–1953

Charles Burchfield

November sunlight, 1953–1953

Sale Date: May 21, 1998

Auction Closed

Thunderhead in rain, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Thunderhead in rain, 1916–1916

Sale Date: May 20, 1998

Auction Closed

March day, Gowanda, 1926–1933

Charles Burchfield

March day, Gowanda, 1926–1933

Sale Date: May 20, 1998

Auction Closed

Fireflies and lightning, 1964–1965

Charles Burchfield

Fireflies and lightning, 1964–1965

Sale Date: May 20, 1998

Auction Closed

Circus poster, 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

Circus poster, 1917–1917

Sale Date: May 20, 1998

Auction Closed

A path in the woods, 1918–1918

Charles Burchfield

A path in the woods, 1918–1918

Sale Date: May 14, 1998

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1951–1952

Sale Date: April 30, 1998

Auction Closed

Crane, 1915–1916

Charles Burchfield

Crane, 1915–1916

Sale Date: April 23, 1998

Auction Closed

English (US)

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