Country School House

According to Charles Burchfield's painting index, the present work depicts a schoolhouse north of the town of Akron, New York. The artist wrote in his journal entry on July 31, 1948, "To the country around Lake Ontario sketching... East on 354 to Three Rod Rd – on which north to its end, and the Alden Rd., thence to Alden & then first road north – I cannot remember how many turns I made, but on one of the northerly roads, I parked on an intersecting road under a tree. A delightful spot – A cornfield adjacent which rippled under a stiff cool S.W. wind, I felt free & exhilarated... Eventually I took a northerly road from Medina. I cannot remember whether it was before or after this that I went thru a very wild backwoods sort of country, there which the road round in an exotic fashion, the trees & bushes going right up to the road. Very mean and poverty-stricken houses. Once I considered the shell of an old log cabin as a subject but gave it up. Again at the Tonawanda Creek I considered some willows & a bridge as a subject, without acting on it. Eventually when I began to despair I suddenly came upon an old abandoned school house, a simple frame house with a primitive but interesting steeple on it. This I felt was my subject. I set up my easel under an elm; the wind was 'terrific,' I had to anchor my easel with an extra rope..." (C.E. Burchfield, Journals, vol. 49, July 31, 1948, p. 118, Burchfield Penney Art Center, The Charles E. Burchfield Archives)