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| November Storm |
Charles
Ephraim Burchfield was born on April 9, 1873 in Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio. He was
born as the first child to William Burchfield and Alice Murphy. Sadly,
Burchfield’s father passed away when he was only four years old. Because of
this tragedy, he was appointed the main bread winner and worked at a young age
for W.H. Mullins being a core molder. He was also one of six siblings born to
Alice and William. Alice never remarried after her husband’s death.
Burchfield graduated as class
valedictorian and went to the Cleveland Institute of Art to pursue his gift of
painting. During this time, his mother had a skylight installed in his room so
that he could paint with better light! Upon returning home, Charles married his
sweetheart, Bertha Kenreich. The couple had four children together.
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| Promenade |
Charles Burchfield had many
painters that he used to inspire him, such as van Gogh. His best friend, Edward
Hopper, helped Burchfield land many of his paintings in galleries across the
United States. Burchfield finally quit his job at a prominent wallpaper company
and committed full time to be a painter. However, the Great Depression soon
hit, and Burchfield was worried about his family’s welfare. He didn’t have to
worry- his paintings were in high demand and he never lacked any funds during
this time.
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| Black Iron |
His work is inspired by many
experiences he had that can be divided into three major categories. His first
category has his works depicting scenes he saw during his enlistment in World
War I. His second depicts American life and industry. His last group focuses
back on his experiences as a boy and more of abstract art. Burchfield used
watercolor and employed the dry brush technique, which is using as little water
as possible to get different textures and colors. His painting style was
described by LIFE magazine as “Edward Hopper on a rainy day.”
Charles Burchfield died on January
10th, 1967 in his adult hometown of Gardenville, NY, a suburb of
East Salem.
What a great summary you've created--I learned a lot about this painter I hadn't heard of before. I like the look of his work and that description from LIFE is perfect!
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