id: 150430 accession number: 1981.209 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1981.209 updated: 2023-08-26 11:09:38.348000 Chestnut Trees, 1920. Charles Burchfield (American, 1893–1967). Pen and gray and black ink and gray and black wash with graphite on wove paper, lined; sheet: 22.6 x 40.7 cm (8 7/8 x 16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1981.209 Reproduced with permission from the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation title: Chestnut Trees title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1920 creation date earliest: 1920 creation date latest: 1920 current location: creditline: Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection copyright: Reproduced with permission from the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation --- culture: America, 20th century technique: Pen and gray and black ink and gray and black wash with graphite on wove paper, lined department: Drawings collection: DR - American 20th Century type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Charles Burchfield (American, 1893–1967) - artist Charles Burchfield was among the most original and poetic painters of the Cleveland modernist movement. Born in Ashtabula, he moved to Salem, Ohio, following the death of his father in 1898. After graduating from high school, he attended Cleveland School of Art, studying with William Eastman, Frederick Gottwald, Henry Keller, and Frank Wilcox. In 1914 Burchfield began attending Kokoon Klub exhibitions, and in spring 1915 he went to Brandywine to meet William Sommer. Around this time Burchfild began experimenting with the brilliant colors and simplified forms of the Berlin Heights painters. He painted his first mature works in 1915, and grad ed from the Cleveland School of Art with a degree in illustration the following spring. That summer the Cleveland School of Art sponsored his first solo exhibition, and in the fall, after attending the National Academy of Design in New York for one month, he returned to Salem. In February 1917 the Cleveland School of Art mounted his second solo exhibition. Burchfield was inducted into the army that summer. After his return in 1919 he exhibited with other Cleveland modernists at the Play House, Laukhuff’ s Book store, and other Cleveland venues. In 1921 he went on an extended sketching trip through eastern Ohio with Keller, Wilcox, and Paul Travis, exhibiting these recent paintings at the Cleveland School of Art and in the May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Later that year he moved to Buffalo to work as a wallpaper designer, a position he retained until he resigned in 1929 to become a full-time painter. Over the next 30 years he exhibited extensively at museums and galleries across the country. Solo exhibitions of his paintings were held at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (1930), Pittsburgh’ s Carnegie Institute of Art (1935, 1938, 1946), and Buffalo’ s Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1944, 1955, 1963, 1967). In 1953 New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art organized a major exhibition that traveled to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Burchfield died in West Seneca, New York.
"Transformations in Cleveland Art" (CMA, 1996), p. 224 --- measurements: Sheet: 22.6 x 40.7 cm (8 7/8 x 16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: wove paper, lined watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: signed, in ink, at lower left: CEB (monogram) / 1920 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield opening date: 1953-11-04T05:00:00 The Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1953-January 10, 1954). title: The Year in Review for 1981 opening date: 1982-02-17T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). title: Leona E. Prasse, Connoisseur and Curator opening date: 1985-05-28T04:00:00 Leona E. Prasse, Connoisseur and Curator. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-August 25, 1985). title: The Early Work of Charles E. Burchfield opening date: 1987-12-13T05:00:00 The Early Work of Charles E. Burchfield. Columbus Museum of Art (December 13, 1987-February 7, 1988); Laguna Art Museum (March 5-April 24, 1988); Burchfield Penney Art Center (May 14-July 3, 1988). title: Cleveland Art Comes of Age: 1919-1940 opening date: 1989-06-28T04:00:00 Cleveland Art Comes of Age: 1919-1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 28-September 10, 1989). title: Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland opening date: 1991-04-02T05:00:00 Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991). title: Charles Burchfield: The Ohio Landscapes, 1915–1920 opening date: 2018-12-22T05:00:00 Charles Burchfield: The Ohio Landscapes, 1915–1920. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 22, 2018-May 5, 2019). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Charles E. Burchfield [1893-1967], Buffalo, NY, sold to Leona E. Prasse, Cleveland, OH date: 1920-1953 footnotes: citations: Leona E. Prasse [1897-1985], Cleveland, OH, gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1953-1981 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1981- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Burchfield made this drawing while sketching in scenic areas near his hometown of Salem, Ohio. digital description: After serving in World War I, Charles Burchfield found it difficult to return to his watercolor practice and temporarily experimented with other media. He made this pair of drawings using a combination of finely drawn pen lines and thick areas of wash, diluted to produce a wide variation of tones. With these materials, Burchfield could record the texture and sculptural forms of trunks—the aspects of these trees, encountered near Little Beaver Creek on the Pennsylvania border, that interested him most. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Prasse, Leona E. The Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art,1953. page number: Mentioned: p. 21, no. 72; Reproduced: plate VI url: Jones, Edith H. The Drawings of Charles Burchfield. New York: Frederic A. Praeger, 1968. page number: Mentioned: p. 13; Reproduced: plate 6 url: Maciejunes, Nannette V. The Early Works of Charles E. Burchfield, 1915-1921. Exh. Cat. Columbus, OH: Columbus Museum of Art, 1987. page number: Mentioned: no. 47, p. 67; Reproduced: 63 url: De Grazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 9 url: --- IMAGES