Artist:
Charles Ephraim Burchfield
(American, 1893 - 1967)
Old Farmhouse
Medium: Watercolor and charcoal on paper
Date: 1931
Dimensions:
14 3/4 × 21 in. (37.5 × 53.3 cm)
Accession number: 2017.7.2
Copyright: Reproduced with permission of the Charles E. Burchfield
Foundation
Label Copy:
Born in Ohio but spending most of his career in Buffalo, New York, Charles Burchfield is recognized as one of the leading American artists of the 20th century. He is known as much for his ecstatic, visionary landscapes as he is for his quiet scenes of small-town life. He once characterized his latter pursuits, which Old Farmhouse embodies, as expressing the “great epic poetry of American life.” In this watercolor the artist combines close observation with a modernist approach, capturing the lines and varying tones of the farmhouse, while using abbreviated, vivid brush strokes to articulate the trees and bushes surrounding the home.