The Promise of Spring

Details

CHARLES EPHRAIM BURCHFIELD (1893-1967)
The Promise of Spring
signed with initials in monogram and dated 'CEB/1956' (lower left)—signed again 'Burchfield,' dated again and inscribed with title (on the reverse)
watercolor and charcoal on paper laid down on board
40 x 27 in. (101.6 x 68.6 cm.)
Executed in 1956.

Provenance

The artist.
Frank K.M. Rehm Galleries, New York.
Private collection, Youngstown, Ohio, acquired from the above.
Private collection, Florida, by descent from the above.
Christie's, New York, 30 November 2006, lot 34, sold by the above.
Private collection, Fort Worth, Texas, acquired from the above.
Sotheby's, New York, 23 April 2015, lot 31.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Literature

J.S. Trovato, Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections, Utica, New York, 1970, p. 264, no. 1146.

Exhibited

Youngstown, Ohio, Butler Institute of American Art, Charles Burchfield in Ohio, December 11, 1983-January 8, 1984, no. 6.
New York, Owen Gallery, American Paintings with a Selection of Works by William Glackens, November 2007, pp. 52-53, illustrated.

Further details

We would like to thank Nancy Weekly, Burchfield Scholar at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, for her assistance with cataloguing this lot.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Likely referring to the day he begun painting the present work, Burchfield recorded in his journal: "On the way...The inexpressible beauty of snow in April...Then for an excursion into the woods to seek a spot to paint—which I readily found—almost any spot would do on such an exciting day—but I chose a view down the main ravine, where grew some tall hemlocks. As I stood planning my work, a shower of snow slowly advanced thru the woods from the north—and a wave of supreme happiness swept over me, and I thanked God for such a moment." (Journals, vol. LVIII, April 20, 1956, pp. 158-60)

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