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Artwork Details
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Title:The False Front
Artist:Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio 1893–1967 West Seneca, New York)
Date:1920–21
Medium:Watercolor and opaque watercolor over graphite on paper
Dimensions:21 × 30 in. (53.3 × 76.2 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1924
Object Number:24.98
Inscription: Signed (lower right, in graphite): C. Burchfield
[Montross Gallery, New York, until 1924; sold to MMA]
Cleveland Museum of Art. "First Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting," June 10–July 10, 1921, no catalogue [awarded first prize in Water Color and Penton Medal in Silver for Excellence].
New York. Montross Gallery. "Water Colors by Charles Burchfield," March 18–April 5, 1924, brochure no. 14 (as "False Front").
Pittsburgh. Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute. "An Exhibition of Water Colors and Oils by Charles Burchfield," March 8–April 3, 1938, no. 10.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Contemporary Painting in the United States," April 19–27, 1941, no. 169.
Mexico City. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," June 12–July 9, 1941, unnumbered cat. (p. 112).
Santiago. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," September 6–October 5, 1941, unnumbered cat.
Lima. Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," November 5–30, 1941, unnumbered cat.
Quito. Universidad Central de Ecuador. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," December 1941, unnumbered cat.
Buffalo, N.Y. Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery. "Charles Burchfield: A Retrospective Exhibition of Water Colors and Oils, 1916–1943," April 14–May 15, 1944, no. 23.
Indianapolis. John Herron Art Institute. "Charles Burchfield: A Retrospective Exhibition of Water Colors and Oils, 1916–1943," October 1–29, 1944, no catalogue.
American Federation of Arts circulating exhibition. "The Paintings of Charles Burchfield, 28 Paintings from the Retrospective Exhibition Organized by the Albright Art Gallery," 1945.
Katonah, N.Y. Katonah Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield," September 17–October 31, 1967, no catalogue.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Currents of Expansion: Painting in the Midwest, 1820–1940," February 18–April 10, 1977, no. 93.
Edinburgh. Royal Scottish Academy. "The Modern Spirit: American Painting 1908–1935," August 19–September 10, 1977, no. 109.
London. Hayward Gallery. "The Modern Spirit: American Painting 1908–1935," September 27–November 27, 1977, no. 109.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield from the Collection," October 27, 1998–February 28, 1999, no catalogue.
Los Angeles. Hammer Museum. "Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield," October 4, 2009–January 10, 2010, unnumbered cat. (p. 163).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield," June 24–October 17, 2010.
Charles Ephraim Burchfield. Journal entry. November 14, 1920 [published in Ref. Townsend 1993].
Virgil Barker. "Notes on the Exhibitions." Arts 5 (April 1924), p. 219, ill. p. 218.
"Museum Buys Two Modern Works." Art News 22 (June 21, 1924), p. 1.
"The World of Art: Prints and Prizes." New York Times Magazine (July 6, 1924), p. 13, ill.
William B. M'Cormick. "A Small Town in Paint." International Studio 80 (March 1925), p. 468, ill. p. 467.
Marc Goodrich. "Along the Appian Way to Main Street: Mr. Babbitt a Figure of All Ages—Carol Kennicott a Blood Relative of Madame Bovary." New York Times Book Review (May 31, 1925), ill. p. 2.
Margaret Breuning. "Contemporary Water Color." International Studio 83 (January 1926), pp. 23–24, ill. p. 25.
"Burchfield's America." Time (December 28, 1936), p. 24, calls it "False Front".
"First Painting Brought $25; Now It May Cost You $2,500: Artist Charles E. Burchfield's Success Told in Pictures in National Magazine." Salem News (December 30, 1936), pp. 1, 8, calls it "False Front".
J[ohn]. O'C[onnor]., Jr. "Charles Burchfield: Exhibition of His Paintings at the Carnegie Institute." Carnegie Magazine 11 (March 1938), pp. 311–12.
"Pittsburgh: A Comprehensive Showing of the Work of Charles Burchfield." Art News 36 (April 2, 1938), p. 18.
Lucille E. Morehouse. "Seasonal Beauty Found in Exhibits." Indianapolis Star (October 8, 1944), p. 19, notes that this work was awarded a prize in Exh. Cleveland 1921.
Filomena Gould. "Atop the Town." Indianapolis News (October 9, 1944), p. 2.
"Art Exhibit Set to Open Sunday at Herron Institute." Indianapolis News (September 29, 1944), p. 1, part 2.
Albert Ten Eyck Gardner. History of Water Color Painting in America. New York, 1966, p. 137, pl. 122.
Joseph S. Trovato, ed. Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections. Utica, N. Y., 1970, p. 102, no. 676, calls it "The False Front, 'Negley, Ohio'".
Phoebe Kent Scholl. "A Study of the Styles and Techniques of Some Outstanding Recent American Watercolor Painters." PhD diss., Teachers College, Columbia University, 1970, pp. 170, 180–81, 187, 210, fig. 28.
Graham Reynolds. A Concise History of Watercolors. New York, 1971, p. 190, ill. no. 154.
Richard McLanathan. Art in America: A Brief History. New York, 1973, pp. 132, 191, fig. 165.
Matthew Baigell. Charles Burchfield. New York, 1976, ill. p. 130.
Lynn E. Springer inCurrents of Expansion: Painting in the Midwest, 1820–1940. Exh. cat., St. Louis Art Museum. St. Louis, 1977, p. 141, no. 93, ill.
J. Benjamin Townsend, ed. Charles Burchfield's Journals: The Poetry of Place. Albany, 1993, pp. 33, 667 n. 30, fig. 8.
Edward Lucie-Smith. American Realism. New York, 1994, pp. 116, 118, fig. 105.
Colleen Laban Makowski. Charles Burchfield: An Annotated Bibliography. Lanham, Md., 1996, pp. 2, 14, 38, 46, 106, 112, 135, 168, nos. 16, 133, 378, 455, 460, 894, 938, 1137, 1383.
M. Sue Kendall in Nannette V. Maciejunes and Michael D. Hall. The Paintings of Charles Burchfield: North by Midwest. Exh. cat., Columbus Museum of Art. Columbus, 1997, p. 97.
Nannette V. Maciejunes and Michael D. Hall. The Paintings of Charles Burchfield: North by Midwest. Exh. cat., Columbus Museum of Art. Columbus, 1997, p. 269.
Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio 1893–1967 West Seneca, New York)
ca. 1923
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