The Birches
View Similar Items
Charles E. BurchfieldThe Birches 1916
1916
About the Item
- Creator:Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967, American)
- Creation Year:1916
- Dimensions:Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Buffalo, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU13921552073
Charles E. Burchfield
Born in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, Charles Burchfield became known as a town-landscape painter of middle-western America, and his paintings, drawings and prints have had much influence on succeeding generations of artists. He has also been described as a social critic, naturalist, and transcendental visionary whose sensitivities infuse his artwork. Of his impact on American art, Matthew Baigell wrote: "Few American artists have ever responded with such passion to the landscape or have made it such a compelling repository as well as mirror of their intimate feelings."
In addition to his painting, Burchfield was a teacher at the Art Institute of Buffalo from 1949 to 1952 and at the University of Buffalo from 1950 to 1952.
Burchfield's career can be divided into three phases. The first is landscapes based on childhood memories and fantasies and ended about 1918; the second, from 1918 to 1943, is Social Realism, including “grimy streets and rundown buildings of the eastern Ohio area,” and the third phase is a return to subject matter of his childhood and the “investing them with a kind of ecstatic poetry.” (Biagell 54)
Throughout Burchfield's career, watercolor was his preferred medium. Knowledge of Oriental art influenced him to use simple forms.
Burchfield spent his youth in Salem, Ohio, where he developed a keen interest in art and nature and was intensely aware of woodland sounds and noises. In 1912, he decided to become a painter and enrolled in the Cleveland School of Art, where his most influential teacher was Henry Keller. Another major Ohio influence on his painting was William Sommer, leader of the modernist movement in the Cleveland area. He introduced Burchfield to experimental watercolor techniques and color theory, and Burchfield began attending sessions of the Kokoon Club, organized by Sommer and William Zorach to promote avant-garde art. In 1917, he developed a shorthand of abstractions of various shapes and moods, and he also began painting small houses that appeared to be haunted.
Burchfield served in World War I from 1918 to 1919, and served as sergeant in the Camouflage Corps, camouflaging artillery pieces. In 1921, he moved to Buffalo, New York, where until 1929, he worked as a wallpaper designer for the M.H. Birge and Sons Wallpaper Company. From that time, living the remainder of his life in Buffalo, he devoted himself full time to fine-art painting that ranged from rather sentimental depictions to abstraction in the 1960s.
In the 1920s, Burchfield moved away from what he perceived as an overactive imagination and did studies of architecture of Midwestern streets. This subject matter of the realities of the man-made world was influenced by his reading of Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life by Sherwood Anderson, and playing off those themes he reflected a debunking of the heartland sentimentality by so-called sophisticated, more worldly critics. Then in 1943, he returned to his earlier style which he explained was a "necessary diversion" from the aftermath of World War II.
Once more Burchfield began to explore the landscape of his youth, and, using a less realistic style, became almost mystical in his expressions of nature including seasonal changes, and forest sounds, which he depicted with quivering brushstrokes. "His last paintings are filled with chimerical creatures — butterflies and dragonflies from another world." (Baigell 55)
The largest single collection of Burchfield’s work is at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York, and includes his watercolors, prints, oil paintings and preliminary sketches for both paintings and wallpaper designs. In 1997, a major retrospective of his work was held at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. and was organized by the Columbus Museum of Art.
Find original Charles Burchfield paintings and prints on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Gallery of the Masters)
- Crawford Notch at NightBy Wes OlmstedLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original etching by American artist Wes Olmsted depicting Crawford Notch in New Hampshire.Category
1960s American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsEtching, Paper
- Modern American Industrial LandscapeLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original woodblock print dated 1965, titled "Our Town" but signed illegibly.Category
1960s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Woodcut
- Vintage Signed American Modernist Abstract Street Scene Framed Original PrintLocated in Buffalo, NYVintage signed and numbered street scene print by Allan M. D'Arcangelo (1930 - 1998). Nicely framed. Excellent modernist composition.Category
1960s Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- New York City Skyline Modern Print Chrysler State Building Framed Unique EtchingBy Katherine GallagherLocated in Buffalo, NYLimited edition aquatint etching of the New York City skyline by Katherine E. Gallagher. This piece features the famous Chrysler Building prominently in the background along with a M...Category
1980s Realist Landscape Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Mid-Century Modern Abstract Monotype PrintBy Toma YovanovichLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original mid century modern abstract expressionist monotype print by American artist Toma Yovanovich. Toma Yovanovich (1931-2016) Yovanovich was a painter/printmaker whos...Category
1960s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints
MaterialsMonoprint, Monotype
- Dickie (Child in High Chair)By Will BarnetLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original woodcut on japan paper created by master American artist Will Barnet in 1942.Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Woodcut
- Mid Century Mercedes Benz SL, Midnight Modern Series Contemporary PhotographyBy Tom BlachfordLocated in Brooklyn, NYPalm Springs Mid Century Modern Architecture, Vintage Classic Mercedes Benz SL, Palm Desert, Limited Series. Archival Inkjet Print on ...Category
2010s American Modern Color Photography
MaterialsCotton, Archival Ink, Photographic Paper
- Mid Century Steve McQueen Pool, Midnight Modern Architecture Palm SpringsBy Tom BlachfordLocated in Brooklyn, NYMid Century Modern Palm Springs Architecture. Steve McQueen vintage car photographed for the first time at his pool in Palm Desert. Archival I...Category
2010s American Modern Color Photography
MaterialsCotton, Archival Ink, Photographic Paper
- Precious Stones; Église Notre Dame - Les AndelysBy John Taylor ArmsLocated in Middletown, NYA signed impression from the artist's own collection. Kansas City: Miniature Print Society, 1946. Etching on antique cream laid paper, 3 5/15 x 1 7/8 inches (84 x 49 mm), full margi...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsHandmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching
- Abbeville; St. VulfranBy John Taylor ArmsLocated in Middletown, NYEtching on cream wove Japon paper, 7 3/8 x 7 3/4 inches (188 x 197 mm), full margins. Signed and dated in pencil, lower margin. In excellent condition with some minor surface soiling...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsEtching, Handmade Paper
- Colosseum (First State)By Armin LandeckLocated in Middletown, NYCopper plate engraving on cream wove paper, 18 1/4 x 13 3/8 (462 x 338 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil, lower right. Edition of 20. First state (of 2). Minor uniform toning, and ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Landscape Prints
MaterialsEngraving, Handmade Paper
- Mid Century Mercedes Benz SL, Midnight Modern Series Contemporary PhotographyBy Tom BlachfordLocated in Brooklyn, NYPalm Springs Mid Century Modern Architecture, Vintage Classic Mercedes Benz SL, Palm Desert, Limited Series. Archival Inkjet Print on Cotton Paper. Mid Century Modern Architecture ...Category
2010s American Modern Color Photography
MaterialsCotton, Archival Ink, Photographic Paper