Sold
Frosted Windows, 1917
25½ x 19½ inches (sight size)
Signed lower right: Chas Burchfield / Jan 1917
Provenance
Mr. and Mrs. Clyde B. Hurtt, Kirkwood, Missouri.
Sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, New York, May 16, 1973, lot 121
Private collection
Private collection, acquired from above
Sale, Christie’s, New York, New York, November 30, 2006, lot 30
Godel and Co., Bedford, New York
Exhibited
Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries, Early Watercolors by Charles Burchfield, New York, November 20-December 16, 1939.
Literature
J.S. Trovato, Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections (Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1970), p. 56, no. 249.
Related Works
Wet Snow and Ice, 1947-55, transparent and opaque watercolor on paper, 37 ⅞ x 30 inches, monogramed and dated lower left: CWB / 1947-55; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Pippin House, East Liverpool, Ohio, 1920, watercolor and gouache on paper, 26 x 19 3/8 inches, signed lower right: C Burchfield; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
Six O’ Clock, 1936, watercolor on paper, 24 x 30 inches; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Note
Burchfield referred to 1917 as the ‘golden year’ of his career. He was not only highly prolific with more than 165 paintings but the stylistic directions he had been exploring for years took hold, coming to their fullest expression.[1] During this year, he also painted “house pictures” in his immediate surroundings at Salem, Ohio. Burchfield scholar and art critic Michael Hall describes these works as “a deliberate and structured investigation of a non-traditional form of pictorial composition,” rooted in Post-Impressionism and Expressionism.[2] These paintings laid the foundation for Burchfield’s later role as a leading American Scene painter.
This painting is listed as part of the Burchfield collection at Burchfield Penney Art Center at SUNY Buffalo State University.
[1] John Baur, The Inlander: Life and Work of Charles Burchfield, 1983-1967 (Associated University Presses, 1982), 58.
[2] Michael D. Hall, Charles Burchfield: The Architecture of Painting (DC Moore Gallery, 2009), 18.
