SOLD Night Sky Over Roof
by Charles Burchfield (1893–1967)19¾ x 13¾ inches (sight size)
Estate stamp lower right: B# 479
Provenance
The artist
Estate of above
Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York
Ted Shen, acquired from above, 1996
Sale, Modern American Masterworks from the Ted Shen Collection, Christie’s, New York, New York, April 21, 2023, lot 12, from above
Exhibited
Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York, Charles Burchfield, April 17–May 15, 1993
Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York, Selected Highlights of American Art, 1993
Kennedy Galleries, New York, New York, Charles E. Burchfield Discoveries: Early Watercolors, 1996
Literature
Charles Burchfield (New York: Kennedy Galleries, Inc., 1993), 17, pl. 15.
Selected Highlights of American Art (New York: Kennedy Galleries, Inc., 1993), n.p., no. 20.
Related Works
Untitled [Black and White Cloud – Cloud Study], 1916, watercolor with graphite on paper, 13⅞ x 19⅞ inches; Burchfield Penney Art Center at SUNY Buffalo State
Night Scene, 1935, watercolor, pastel, and charcoal on paper, 16⅞ x 26⅞ inches; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
Winter Moonlight, 1951, watercolor on paper, 40 x 33 inches; Wichita Art Museum, Kansas
Orion in Winter, 1962, watercolor on paper, 48 x 53 15/16 inches; Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
Note: Charles Burchfield showed a fascination for the sky throughout his career, depicting the sun, moon, and stars at times with great accuracy and at others with expressive fantasy. In this work, the night sky fills the composition as the moon illuminates the scene. In 1916, Burchfield described in his journal, “I must commence to see half the sky in a picture—not merely a spot, but the whole immensity of it.”[1]
[1] J. Benjamin Townsend, ed., Charles Burchfield’s Journals: The Poetry of Place (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), 444.
Artist Biography
Watercolorist with Romantic Realist Vision of American Life
By Amy Spencer
Best known for his romantic watercolors, Burchfield developed a unique style, swinging between realism and fantasy, to express his profound respect for the American landscape.
I. Biography
II. Chronology
III. Collections
IV. Exhibitions
V. Memberships
VI. Notes
VII. Suggested Resources
I. Biography
Charles Ephraim Burchfield is celebrated for his visionary paintings of the American
Related Works
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