Charles Burchfield

Charles Burchfield 1893-1967, American painter, b. Ashtabula, Ohio, studied at the Cleveland School of Art. Living at first in Ohio, then moving (1925) to upstate New York, he worked (1921-20) as a wallpaper designer. His paintings, predominantly in watercolor, fall into three periods: from 1916 to the early 1920s, poetic evocations of nature; from the early 1920s to the early 1940s, bold, somber landscapes and urban scenes; and after 1943, a return to lyric expressions of nature, painted with a heightened sense of emotion. Although Burchfield is widely known for his depiction of crumbling Victorian mansions, false-front stores, railroad yards, and other relics of late-19th-century small-town America, his most successful works are usually considered to be his intense, boldly drawn, and highly colored portrayals of nature. Weather and sunlight effects are important in all his works, and along with his friend and contemporary Edward Hopper , he is considered a founder of American Scene painting. Among his many works in museums are Setting Sun through the Catalpas (Cleveland Mus. of Art), October (Columbus Gall. of Fine Art, Ohio), Freight Cars under a Bridge (Detroit Inst. of Arts), and An April Mood (Whitney Mus., New York City).

Bibliography: See The Drawings of Charles Burchfield with text by the artist (1968); Charles Burchfield's Journals (ed. by J. B. Townsend, 1992); biography by J. Baur (1982).

Burchfield, Charles (1893–1967). American painter, mainly in watercolour. In 1921 he settled permanently in Buffalo, where he worked as head designer in a wallpaper factory until he was able to devote himself full-time to art in 1929. Burchfield's work divides into three clear phases. Up to about 1918 he painted scenes of nature that have an obsessive, macabre quality, often based on childhood memories and fantasies. In his second phase—during the 1920s and 1930s —he was one of the leading American Scene Painters, portraying the bleakness of small-town life and the grandeur and power of nature. In the early 1940s, however, he became disenchanted with realism and changed his style again, reviving the subjective spirit of his youthful work but in a more monumental vein, as he turned to a highly personal interpretation of the beauty and mystery of nature (The Sphinx and the Milky Way, 1946, Munson-Williams-Proctor Inst., Utica). In the 1950s Burchfield taught at several institutions including the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and the University of Buffalo. The Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, Buffalo, possesses his papers and a collection of his paintings.

Burchfield, Charles (1893–1967). American painter, mainly in watercolour. He was born in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, and studied at the Cleveland School (now Institute) of Art, 1912–16. In 1921 he settled permanently in Buffalo, where he worked as head designer in a wallpaper factory until he was able to devote himself full-time to art in 1929. Burchfield's work divides into three clear phases. Up to about 1918 he painted scenes of nature that have an obsessive, macabre quality, often based on childhood memories and fantasies. In his second phase—during the 1920s and 1930s—he was one of the leading American Scene Painters, portraying the bleakness of small-town life and the grandeur and power of nature. In the early 1940s he became disenchanted with realism, however, and changed his style again, reviving the subjective spirit of his youthful work but in a more monumental vein, as he turned to a highly personal interpretation of the beauty and mystery of nature (The Sphinx and the Milky Way, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1946). ‘His last paintings are filled with chimerical creatures—butterflies and dragonflies from another world. Few American artists have ever responded with such passion to the landscape or have made it such a compelling repository as well as a mirror of their intimate feelings’ ( Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American Art, 1979). In the 1950s Burchfield taught at several institutions including the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and the University of Buffalo. The Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, Buffalo, possesses his papers and a good collection of his paintings.