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Lot Essay
Charles Burchfield wrote about the month of August in his journal from 1953, "Summer attains its greatest dignity & power in August. In this dignity & power exist simultaneously a sinister quality, and a deeply mystical one. On one hand in point of time, is the luxuriant beauty of full-growing things; on the other, the placid romanticism of Autumn." (Michael Kammen in N.V. Maciejunes and M.D. Hall, The Paintings of Charles Burchfield North by Northwest, New York, 1997, p. 46)
Charles Ephraim Burchfield, a celebrated watercolorist, is known for his landscapes of vivid color and movement. His works often depict nature's vibrancy and the changes that come with each season. These landscapes include the sounds of insects and the feeling of wind blowing through flowers and trees.
His love of nature began in his childhood, walking through the woods near his home. Before he could attend school, Burchfield was drawing images of nature transformed by weather and seasons. His interest in nature continued while a student at the Cleveland School of Art, where he read essays by naturalist John Burroughs, travel journals of John Audubon and later, stories by Herman Melville and Ralph Waldo Emerson. This love and respect for the force and unpredictability of nature can be seen in his reverence for the living plants and animals, such as the trees in his landscapes. He surrounds them with warm and lush surroundings. In different seasons he shows how nature is constantly changing and moving.
August Morning is an example of how Burchfield is able to depict the warmth and movement of the day. The yellows and greens in the watercolor give the feeling of the bright, warm sun and the lushness of the trees and grass with the flowers in full bloom. Burchfield gives movement to the trees and grass from the wind that cools the hot August sun and the katydids and cicadas that hum in the morning. For August Morning, Burchfield captures not only a beautiful landscape but also the sounds and feeling of a summer morning.
Matthew Baigell writes, "The vital forces of nature surged through forms, sometimes with reckless abandon, as if growth and movement were parts of their beings...he brings together a variety of objects and intimations of sounds seen and heard at one moment as well as over a period of time and then superimposed them on the picture surface. One sees trees, insects, and birds; feels the wind; and hears the forest sounds. Each of these elements is isolated, experienced for a few moments, and then mixed with the other elements. The time sequences for each are then stretched out and simultaneously intensified and presented as if they all occurred as Burchfield was able to respond to them at a single instant." (Charles Burchfield, New York, 1976, p. 175)
Charles Ephraim Burchfield, a celebrated watercolorist, is known for his landscapes of vivid color and movement. His works often depict nature's vibrancy and the changes that come with each season. These landscapes include the sounds of insects and the feeling of wind blowing through flowers and trees.
His love of nature began in his childhood, walking through the woods near his home. Before he could attend school, Burchfield was drawing images of nature transformed by weather and seasons. His interest in nature continued while a student at the Cleveland School of Art, where he read essays by naturalist John Burroughs, travel journals of John Audubon and later, stories by Herman Melville and Ralph Waldo Emerson. This love and respect for the force and unpredictability of nature can be seen in his reverence for the living plants and animals, such as the trees in his landscapes. He surrounds them with warm and lush surroundings. In different seasons he shows how nature is constantly changing and moving.
August Morning is an example of how Burchfield is able to depict the warmth and movement of the day. The yellows and greens in the watercolor give the feeling of the bright, warm sun and the lushness of the trees and grass with the flowers in full bloom. Burchfield gives movement to the trees and grass from the wind that cools the hot August sun and the katydids and cicadas that hum in the morning. For August Morning, Burchfield captures not only a beautiful landscape but also the sounds and feeling of a summer morning.
Matthew Baigell writes, "The vital forces of nature surged through forms, sometimes with reckless abandon, as if growth and movement were parts of their beings...he brings together a variety of objects and intimations of sounds seen and heard at one moment as well as over a period of time and then superimposed them on the picture surface. One sees trees, insects, and birds; feels the wind; and hears the forest sounds. Each of these elements is isolated, experienced for a few moments, and then mixed with the other elements. The time sequences for each are then stretched out and simultaneously intensified and presented as if they all occurred as Burchfield was able to respond to them at a single instant." (Charles Burchfield, New York, 1976, p. 175)