Image: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Drawn entirely from the Whitney’s collection, the presentation brings together ten works created between 1916 and 1960. The presentation marks seventy years since the Whitney organized Burchfield’s landmark 1956 retrospective.
For more than fifty years, Charles Burchfield (1893–1967) sought to capture what he described as the “tremendous force of nature.” The exhibition traces that lifelong reverence for the natural world through flowering meadows, turbulent skies and shifting seasons.
The presentation features luminous works including ‘Cricket Chorus in the Arbor’ (1917), ‘Cold September Rain’ (1957), and ‘An April Mood’ (1946–55). These are visionary watercolors alive with emotion, atmosphere and spiritual intensity.
The exhibition emphasizes Burchfield’s ability to transform close observation of the environment into deeply psychological and transcendent compositions. It also offers a rare opportunity to experience these light-sensitive works together.
‘Charles Burchfield: Elemental’ is part of an ongoing initiative to present rarely seen works from the Whitney’s collection. The exhibition is organized by Caroline Webb, Curatorial Assistant.
