Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, 1893-1967) Drawing
| Lot #: 30 Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, 1893-1967) Drawing |
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Charcoal on paper, laid on craft paper. Dated 1929 lower left. Titled and dated “Chestnut Ridge, 1929.” |
| Sight: 7 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. |
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Provenance Private collection, Buffalo, New York. |
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Auction Date Mar 19, 2026 |
| Estimate: $1,500-$2,500 |
Details:
Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, 1893-1967)
Charles Ephraim Burchfield was an American modernist painter best known for his expressive watercolor landscapes that seem to vibrate with light, movement, and sound. Born in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, Burchfield studied at the Cleveland School of Art before working as a wallpaper designer for M.H. Birge & Sons Company in Buffalo, New York. Drawing inspiration from his immediate surroundings – town streets, industrial sites, forests, and wildflowers – he developed a highly personal visual language that fused natural observation with emotional and spiritual intensity. His early town and landscape scenes – painted while living in West Seneca, New York – share affinities with the work of his contemporary and friend Edward Hopper.
Burchfield gained national recognition with a solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1930, Charles Burchfield: Early Watercolors 1916-18, and in 1936 Life magazine named him one of America’s ten greatest painters. During the 1940s, he produced some of his most visionary and hallucinatory works, including the monumental Four Seasons (1949-1960), which depicts the cyclical transformation of a forest through exaggerated, cathedral-like forms. In addition to painting, he taught at the Art Institute of Buffalo and the University of Buffalo in the early 1950s. Shortly before his death in West Seneca, New York, Buffalo State College established the Charles E. Burchfield Center, now home to the largest public collection of his work, while his paintings are also held in major institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Phillips Collection.
Charles Ephraim Burchfield was an American modernist painter best known for his expressive watercolor landscapes that seem to vibrate with light, movement, and sound. Born in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, Burchfield studied at the Cleveland School of Art before working as a wallpaper designer for M.H. Birge & Sons Company in Buffalo, New York. Drawing inspiration from his immediate surroundings – town streets, industrial sites, forests, and wildflowers – he developed a highly personal visual language that fused natural observation with emotional and spiritual intensity. His early town and landscape scenes – painted while living in West Seneca, New York – share affinities with the work of his contemporary and friend Edward Hopper.
Burchfield gained national recognition with a solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1930, Charles Burchfield: Early Watercolors 1916-18, and in 1936 Life magazine named him one of America’s ten greatest painters. During the 1940s, he produced some of his most visionary and hallucinatory works, including the monumental Four Seasons (1949-1960), which depicts the cyclical transformation of a forest through exaggerated, cathedral-like forms. In addition to painting, he taught at the Art Institute of Buffalo and the University of Buffalo in the early 1950s. Shortly before his death in West Seneca, New York, Buffalo State College established the Charles E. Burchfield Center, now home to the largest public collection of his work, while his paintings are also held in major institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Phillips Collection.
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