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Road in Early Spring, 1938

watercolor on paper

23 x 28 in.

Purchased from Friends of American Art and Friends of Art

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Charles Burchfield was born in Ashtabula, Ohio in 1893. He studied at the Cleveland School of Art where he began using watercolor to depict childhood memories and imaginary imagery.  In 1921 he moved to Buffalo, New York to take a position designing wallpaper.  During this time his work became more realistic and included architecture, elevated trains, backyards and viaducts.  In 1929 he quit his job to paint full time.  His work can be divided into three categories: his early work from 1915 to 1919, which included sounds of nature. Cicada sounds are depicted with zigzag strokes while flowers and houses appear to have sinister faces.  In mid-career, from about 1919 until 1943, Burchfield could be classified as a Regionalist, because he focused on small-town and industrial scenes.  During his latter period from 1943 until 1967, he reverted back to his earlier work.  This period produced the imaginary pieces for which he is best known.  His renditions of nature are captured in bold, agitated strokes with vibrant colors and expressionist forms.  Burchfield said that his aim was to depict a time when man saw gods and spirits in natural objects and forces.  There is an ominous quality to these fanciful, highly imaginative watercolors.

The Black Barn and Road in Early Spring date from Burchfield’s mid-career just after he began painting full time.  The grey-green tone and dilapidated buildings in The Black Barn is a dreary view of Gardenville, New York where Burchfield lived.  The horse and carriage tied to the utility pole may be a metaphor for the state of technological progress in this little town outside Buffalo.  In The Road in Early Spring the impact of heavy grays is lightened by the orange guard posts lining the road.  Burchfield conveys, with extraordinary force in these paintings, his emotional response to commonplace, lonely subjects.  He prefers cool and rather melancholy somber colors and dramatic unforced compositions.  These paintings resemble the lonely townscapes produced by Burchfield’s friend and colleague Edward Hopper.

References

Nannette V. Maciejunes and Michael D. Hall. The Paintings of Charles Burchfield: North by Midwest, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997.ISBN-13: 978-0810926844