Charles E. BurchfieldBefore the Storm1916
1916
About the Item
- Creator:Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967, American)
- Creation Year:1916
- Dimensions:Height: 14 in (35.56 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Buffalo, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU13922199013
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)
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Buffalo, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 10 days of delivery.
- Untitled (Trees)By Charles E. BurchfieldLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original watercolor on paper by American modernist Charles E. Burchfield, created in 1916. This work comes in an archival frame presentation and has been authenticated by the Bur...Category
1910s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Paper
- Nude Picnic Virgin IslandsBy Robert Noel BlairLocated in Buffalo, NYRobert Noel Blair (American, 1912-2003) was an American artist, painter, sculptor, printmaker and teacher. He is best known for his rural life & desert landscapes and World War II sc...Category
1960s American Modern Nude Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Archival Paper
- Rainstorm SunsetBy Robert Noel BlairLocated in Buffalo, NYYou are viewing a modernist American watercolor painting by Robert Noel Blair. Robert Noel Blair (American, 1912-2003) was an American artist, painter, sculptor, printmaker and te...Category
American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- Sun over Mont BlancBy Wes OlmstedLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original watercolor painting by Westley "Wes" Olmsted. This work is currently featured in the exhibition Man of Extremes at Benjaman Gallery in Buffalo, NY. Westley G. Olmsted ...Category
1980s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Paper
- California Impressionist Landscape Painting Framed 19th Century Rare PurpleLocated in Buffalo, NYAn original American impressionist figurative watercolor of a California coastline with trees.Category
Early 1900s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- French Cubist Landscape Gouache Painting Framed Original Gallery LabelLocated in Buffalo, NYGouache of a French cityscape titled "Street in Gordes France" by Sylvia Davis. This piece was originally part of the lending and sales gallery of the Memorial Art Gallery of the Uni...Category
1960s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor, Gouache
- Cityscape - Drawing By Reynold Arnould - 1970Located in Roma, ITCityscape is a Pencil and Watercolour Drawing realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Parigi 1980). Good condition. No signature. Reynold Arnould was born in Le Havre, Franc...Category
1970s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Pencil, Watercolor
- Landscape with Shepherd - Drawing - 19th centuryLocated in Roma, ITLandscape with Shepherd is a drawing in watercolor and pencil, realized by an Anonymous artist in the late 19th century. Hand-signed, illegible. Good conditions. The artwork is re...Category
19th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- St Nicholas Cole Abbey and St Mary Somerset Church, London, The BlitzLocated in London, GBThis drawing records the destruction that was endured by London during the Blitz. The building in the foreground is St Nicholas Cole Abbey, situated in the city of London. Whilst a church was recorded on this site from the twelfth century, this church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London so the remnants of the church that we see here is one that was built by Sir Christopher Wren...Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor, Graphite
- North Coast of Cornwall, West Penwith. Cornish Atlantic Coastal Landscape 1970sLocated in Sutton Poyntz, DorsetElizabeth Rosemary Ziar. English ( b.1919 - d.2003 ). The North Coast of Cornwall, West Penwith. Watercolor. Signed. Image size 15 inches x 19.1 inches (...Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor
- Landscape - Drawing By Reynold Arnould - 1977Located in Roma, ITLandscape is a black Marker Drawing and Watercolour realized by Reynold Arnould (Le Havre 1919 - Parigi 1980). Good condition on a little white paper. No signature, dated on the l...Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Permanent Marker, Paper
- View of the City of Vienna - Watercolor Drawing - Early 20th CenturyLocated in Roma, ITView of the City of Vienna is an original modern artwork realized by Viennese Artist in 1900 ca. Mixed colored Watercolor on paper. Signed bottom right by the artist. Includes fra...Category
Early 20th Century Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Paper