Charles BurchfieldAn April Mood, 1946-1955 Watercolor and charcoal on joined paper
Heatwaves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield at the UCLA Hammer Museum
Burchfield has been a big inspiration to me for a long time and I hope to get up to LA in the next couple of weeks to see this show. I will post an article again after I’ve had a chance to take it all in and maybe think of something worthwhile to write. I ran across this video from the Hammer Museum that I thought I would put up in the mean time.
Charles BurchfieldGlory of Spring (Radiant spring), 1950 Watercolor
Painting Perceptions was started in 2009 by Larry Groff to promote the ideas, practice and experience of painters working from observation in a modernist vein from around the world through interviews, essays, videos and community. It later evolved to include imagination-based and abstract painting as well.
Burchfield is a favorite of mine too, I suppose partly because hailed from the NE Ohio & Western NY areas where I spent my formative years. Apparently as a young artist he moved to New York City, didn’t like it and moved back home after a few months. But he stuck to his guns and showed the world with his art that reality outside the big city is just as real. It is interesting also that Burchfield was one of the few painters Edward Hopper had a good word for.