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)
Cloudy noon, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Cloudy noon, 1916–1916

Sale Date: April 23, 1998

Auction Closed

Factory district, Cleveland, Ohio, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Factory district, Cleveland, Ohio, 1916–1916

Sale Date: April 23, 1998

Auction Closed

Brixi

Charles Burchfield

Brixi

Sale Date: February 12, 1998

Auction Closed

Mrs. William Kyser

Charles Burchfield

Mrs. William Kyser

Sale Date: February 12, 1998

Auction Closed

Landscape with three trees, 1918–1918

Charles Burchfield

Landscape with three trees, 1918–1918

Sale Date: February 8, 1998

Auction Closed

Dandelions

Charles Burchfield

Dandelions

Sale Date: December 4, 1997

Auction Closed

Snow storm on sweet road

Charles Burchfield

Snow storm on sweet road

Sale Date: December 4, 1997

Auction Closed

Lowering day in January, 1947–1947

Charles Burchfield

Lowering day in January, 1947–1947

Sale Date: December 4, 1997

Auction Closed

Tanglewod in winter (Wood-tangle in..., 1917–1917

Charles Burchfield

Tanglewod in winter (Wood-tangle in..., 1917–1917

Sale Date: December 3, 1997

Auction Closed

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

Charles Burchfield

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

Sale Date: November 13, 1997

Auction Closed

Village street, Salem, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Village street, Salem, 1916–1916

Sale Date: November 13, 1997

Auction Closed

Late winter landscape, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Late winter landscape, 1916–1916

Sale Date: November 13, 1997

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1953–1953

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1953–1953

Sale Date: October 25, 1997

Auction Closed

Wooded landscape, 1916–1916

Charles Burchfield

Wooded landscape, 1916–1916

Sale Date: October 21, 1997

Auction Closed

Green lands with two trees, 1930–1930

Charles Burchfield

Green lands with two trees, 1930–1930

Sale Date: October 7, 1997

Auction Closed

The clearing, 1960–1966

Charles Burchfield

The clearing, 1960–1966

Sale Date: June 6, 1997

Auction Closed

River scene, 1954

Charles Burchfield

River scene, 1954

Sale Date: May 22, 1997

Auction Closed

Summer benediction, 1951

Charles Burchfield

Summer benediction, 1951

Sale Date: May 22, 1997

Auction Closed

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

Charles Burchfield

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

Sale Date: May 22, 1997

Auction Closed

July evening, 1917

Charles Burchfield

July evening, 1917

Sale Date: May 22, 1997

Auction Closed

High noon, 1915

Charles Burchfield

High noon, 1915

Sale Date: April 23, 1997

Auction Closed

Country road, 1916

Charles Burchfield

Country road, 1916

Sale Date: April 23, 1997

Auction Closed

Three pine saplings, 1918

Charles Burchfield

Three pine saplings, 1918

Sale Date: December 12, 1996

Auction Closed

Camp kitchen

Charles Burchfield

Camp kitchen

Sale Date: December 12, 1996

Auction Closed