Rising Smoke

Details

CHARLES EPHRAIM BURCHFIELD (1893-1967)
Rising Smoke
signed and dated 'Chas Burchfield/1917' (lower right)—dated 'Feb 22, 1917' (on the reverse)—inscribed with title and dated again twice (on a piece of the original backing)
watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper
20 x 14 in. (50.8 x 35.5 cm.)
Executed in 1917.

Provenance

Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York.
Acquired by the late owners from the above, 1983.

Literature

J.I.H. Baur, “Charles Burchfield: Origins of Greatness,” Timeline, vol. 3, June/July 1986.
C.L. Makowski, Charles Burchfield: An Annotated Bibliography, Lanham, Maryland, 1996, p. 106.

Exhibited

New York, Kennedy Galleries, Inc., Charles E. Burchfield: Watercolors from 1915 to 1920, May 10-June 10, 1983, n.p., no. 1, illustrated.
Columbus, Ohio, Columbus Museum of Art; Laguna Beach, California, Laguna Museum of Art; Buffalo, New York, Burchfield Penney Art Center, The Early Works of Charles E. Burchfield, 1915-1921, December 13, 1987-July 3, 1988, p. 41, no. 34, illustrated.
Columbus, Ohio, Columbus Museum of Art; Buffalo, New York, Burchfield-Penney Art Center; Washington, D.C., National Museum of American Art, The Paintings of Charles Burchfield: North by Midwest, March 23, 1997-January 25, 1998, p. 197, no. 80, illustrated.

Further Details

We would like to thank Nancy Weekly, Burchfield Scholar at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, for her assistance with cataloguing this lot.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott Vice President, Head of American Art

tabbott@christies.com +1 212 707 5925

Lot Essay

The present work was executed on February 22, 1917 during Charles Burchfield's self-proclaimed "golden year," when he prolifically sketched and painted the world around his Salem, Ohio home. On a piece of the original backing, the artist writes, "A view from the window of the office of the Mullins Co, where I worked. A calm winter afternoon, with the smoke going straight up into the still air."

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