2010-10-11 10:13:49 | Charles Burchfield

(Top and below) Charles Ritchie after a watercolor by Charles Burchfield, from an uncatalogued sketchbook, 1986, page size: 6 x 9", watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink on wove paper Charles Burchfield is an artist I have uncovered slowly over the years. I first encountered his art while I was in my early 20s, just after undergraduate school. I discovered him in an out-of-print catalogue by Matthew Baigell (Charles Burchfield, Watson-Guptill, 1976); the book was remaindered and I bought it for a song. I still look at that book. One of my best buys ever. I've always been attracted to Burchfield's palette; those earthy, tones of the natural world. Burchfield's adeptness with line and his fearlessness with black also entranced me. I found a kindred spirit in the artist's love of using paper as a support. In truth, I personally prefer Burchfield's handling of watercolor on paper to his oil paintings on canvas. In my mind, the oils lack the vitality of his watercolors. But I tend to prefer works on paper, so I may just be showing my bias. A friend recently used the term 'farmer of images' and I think it's an appropriate term for Burchfield in that his art is so tuned to the seasons, weather, and times of day. I also loved the way Burchfield added sheets of paper to extend compositions. His idea of reworking and reforming earlier compositions seems so powerful to me; stretching the development of a watercolor across decades. It demonstrates that a work of art can include the evidence of an artist's growth over a lifetime. I think Burchfield's works have influenced me in all the things I've mentioned above. But I can't say that I've adapted any major element of Burchfield's vocabulary; for example, I certainly can't say that I have his love of dreaming up forms that carry ...Read More