Rocks and Stumps

Details

CHARLES EPHRAIM BURCHFIELD (1893-1967)
Rocks and Stumps
signed and dated 'Chas Burchfield/1918—' (lower right)—dated again 'April 14, 1918' and inscribed 'The Cave' (on the reverse)
watercolor and charcoal on paper
24 3⁄4 x 17 3⁄4 in. (62.8 x 45.1 cm.)
Executed in 1918.

Provenance

Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Literature

J.S. Trovato, Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections, Utica, New York, 1970, p. 77, no. 435.
J.I.H. Baur, The Inlander: Life and Work of Charles Burchfield 1893-1967, Cranbury, New Jersey, 1982, pp. 85, 88, fig. 61, illustrated (as Rocks and Trees).

Exhibited

New York, Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries, Early Water-Colors by Charles Burchfield, 1917-1918 Period, November 20-December 16, 1939.
Evanston, Illinois, Terra Museum of American Art, Two Hundred Years of American Painting from Private Chicago Collections, June 25-September 2, 1983, no. 48 (as The Cave).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott Vice President, Head of American Art

tabbott@christies.com +1 212 707 5925

Lot Essay

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

According to Weekly, the artist's inscription on the back of the present work reading "The Cave" may reflect a change of heart over the original title, Rocks and Stumps. The artist made a note to his sister identifying the location as Schilling's Mill, which was likely near his hometown of Salem, Ohio.

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