Sultry Moon, 1959

Provenance

The artist
Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries, New York, New York
(Possibly) Charles Stewart Trattler, Kings Point, New York
Helen Lockwood, Poughkeepsie, New York
Vose Galleries, LLC, Boston, Massachusetts
Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Arthur and Holly Magill, South Carolina, acquired from the above, 1978
Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, New York, November 30, 2000, lot 46
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, New York
Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio
Private collection, Ohio, 2001
Menconi + Schoelkopf, New York, New York, 2021
Sale, Christie’s, New York, New York, April 16, 2026, lot 6

Exhibited

Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries, New York, New York, Charles Burchfield, January 3-28, 1961.

The Life and Work of Charles Burchfield, 1893-1967, January 30-November 11, 1984, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Riffe Center, Columbus, Ohio, The State of the Arts: A Celebration of Ohio’s Rich Artistic Heritage, March 3-May 4, 2003.

Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, A Cultural Legacy: 200 Years of Ohio Art: 1775-1975, October 10-November 10, 2008.

Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, Charles Burchfield: An American Visionary, March 1-April 5, 2013.

Menconi + Schoelkopf, New York, New York, Charles E. Burchfield: Inexhaustible, February 22-April 2, 2021.

Literature

C.E. Burchfield, Journals, vol. LIX, August 21, 1959, 105.

C.E. Burchfield, Journals, vol. LIX, August 25, 1959, 106.

Letter from Charles E. Burchfield to Dr. and Mrs. Theodor W. Braasch, September 13, 1959.

M. Breuning, “Burchfield’s Recent Work,” Arts Magazine 35 (January 1961): 50.

Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries, Charles Burchfield exh. cat. (Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries, 1961), n.p., no. 6, cover illustration.

John Canaday, “Arrived Safely: Burchfield’s Journey of Exploration Turns out to be a Round Trip,” The New York Times, January 8, 1961, sec. X, p. 1, illus.

J.S. Trovato, Charles Burchfield Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections (Munson Williams Proctor Institute, 1970), 279-80, no. 1203, illustrated.

Colleen Lahan Makowski, Charles Burchfield : An Annotated Bibliography (Scarecrow Press, 1996), 108, 204.

Dana Felmly, Cahner’s New York Home Book (The Ashley Group, 2001).

G. Deák, Profiles of American Artists Represented by Kennedy Galleries (New York, 1981), 25, illustrated. Hall, “Works Reveal Ohioan’s Talent,” The Columbus Dispatch, March 23, 2003.

Nancy Weekly, Charles E. Burchfield: Inexhaustible (Menconi + Schoelkopf, 2012), 52–54, 62, no. 22, ill.

Related Work

Arctic Owl and Winter Moon, 1960, watercolor on paper, 39¾ x 33 inches, signed with monogram and dated lower right: CEB / 1960; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama

Moonlight in a Flower Garden, 1961, watercolor and charcoal on paper, 48 x 30 inches, signed with monogram and dated lower left: CEB / 1961; Burchfield Penny Art Center, Buffalo State University, Buffalo, New York

Note

“At sight of yellow misty moon I go for walk down painter road – light wind sweeping up over moon twinkled poplars – misty long fields – whippoorwill above Posts – Clatter of leaves like clashing moonlight slivers – “

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, June 27, 1915

Among the most celebrated American watercolorists of the twentieth century, Charles Burchfield captured the variable sensations of the natural world on paper. Watercolor was his primary medium and the vessel to express his ongoing fascination with nature. In 1960, the artist reflected on both nature and his artistry within it, “I find myself being drawn almost inexorably into a dream world. It is not that I am trying to escape real life, but that the realm of fantasy offers the true solution of truly evaluating an experience.”[1]Sultry Moon lyrically carries the viewer into the artist’s dreamy appreciation for the natural wonders hidden within the American landscape.

Burchfield’s journal entry, dated August 25, 1959, recounts his process of creating the present work: “Got to work on the Drought Moon Picture—put in the moon before lunch, then practically finished the picture in the afternoon. I was too tired to evaluate (plus the fact that always when a picture is just finished, I am looking for flaws instead of good points)— Bertha thought it was beautiful.”[2] He later expanded upon his conception of Sultry Moon in a letter to Dr. and Mrs. Theodor W. Braasch in September of 1959. He writes, “The ‘Glower’ in ‘Sultry Moon’ was intentional as I told you. The tree on the left was a spontaneous combustion; (all else was planned more or less… The crescent shape differs in meaning of course according to its position—[drawing of upturned crescent] (variation [double horned shape]) I feel is eerie or menacing—at best a pixie mischievousness)—[drawing of downward crescent] can express astonishment, wariness, foreboding, and also sadness, nostaligia, [sic] or worship of God…That much of my work is self-conscious—but how and when they are to be used is more or less spontaneous; unplanned, and intruding on their own power.”[3]

Sultry Moon reflects Burchfield’s symbolic interpretation of nature and its subtle transformations under shifting light. His 1950s paintings have been said to be his most powerful work as they are filled with spontaneous feeling, his prolific abstract symbols, and dynamic designs that seem to have risen effortlessly from his subconscious mind.[4] Through nuanced color and form, he creates an eerie yet meditative scene centered on a radiant, commanding moon. The painting’s striking scale and nocturnal glow underscore Burchfield’s deep reverence for the natural world and commitment to capturing its ever-changing character.

[1] Charles E. Burchfield, letter to Dr. and Mrs. Theodor W. Braasch, February 12, 1960, Archives of American Art.

[2] C.E. Burchfield, Journals, vol. LIX, August 25, 1959, 106.

[3] Charles E. Burchfield, letter to Dr. and Mrs. Theodor W. Braasch, September 13, 1959, Archives of American Art.

[4] John I. H. Baur, The Inlander: Life and Work of Charles Burchfield, 1893–1967 (Associated University Presses, 1982), 239.