This first "reconstruction," begun in April 1943, marked a turning point for Burchfield, as he began to reclaim the inventive fantasy and spontaneity that had enlivened his earliest watercolors. The Coming of Spring was started even before a larger, more realistic version of the composition entitled Two Ravines (1934–43; Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga) was completed. Both were based on the same 1917 watercolor of a Salem forest scene, but instead of working from it (as he did for Two Ravines), Burchfield painted directly on the earlier watercolor, expanding its dimensions. What the artist had once considered an 'uncompleted failure' (he painted over it in gouache in 1919 and restored it in 1931) was now dubbed "a delight," full of "abandoned creativeness."
The subject of two ravines—one symbolizing the coming of spring, the other the persistence of winter—took on new significance for the artist in the 1920s, when his wife was expecting their first child. As Burchfield wrote, "The coming of Spring will be a true Spring at last, for with it will come the new life. Winter takes on a new meaning, for all the long months the new life will be growing and with the fulfillment of spring, be born."
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Coming of Spring
Artist:Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio 1893–1967 West Seneca, New York)
Date:1917–43
Medium:Watercolor on paper, mounted on presswood
Dimensions:34 × 48 in. (86.4 × 121.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:George A. Hearn Fund, 1943
Object Number:43.159.6
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): C B/ 1917-43
the artist, Gardenville, N.Y. (until 1943; sold on January 6, 1943 through the Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries, New York to MMA)
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "1943–44 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art: Sculpture, Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings," November 23, 1943–January 4, 1944, no. 147.
Vienna. Albertina Museum. "Amerikanische Meister des Aquarells," October 1–December 5, 1949, no. 44 (as "Friihlingsnahen").
Syracuse, N.Y. Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts. "American Water Colors: A Loan Exhibition Recently Shown at the Albertina Gallery in Vienna, Austria," February 1–28, 1950, no. 2.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 13).
Los Angeles. Pan Pacific Auditorium. "6th Annual National Construction Industries Exposition and Home Show," June 14–24, 1951 [loan extended to the Tower Gallery, Los Angeles City Hall until August 10, 1951], no catalogue.
New York. Wildenstein. "Loan Exhibition of Seventy XX Century American Paintings," February 21–March 22, 1952, no. 61.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Charles Burchfield," January 11–February 26, 1956, no. 62.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "200 Years of Watercolor Painting in America," December 8, 1966–January 29, 1967, no. 214.
Grand Rapids, Mich. Grand Rapids Art Museum. "Themes in American Painting," October 1–November 30, 1977, unnumbered cat. (pl. 29).
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Landscape Painting," April 4–August 13, 1989, no catalogue.
Clinton, N. Y. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College. "Extending the Golden Year: Charles Burchfield Centennial," March 6–April 25, 1993, unnumbered cat. (p. 22).
New York. Drawing Center. "Charles E. Burchfield: The Sacred Woods," June 15–July 30, 1993, unnumbered cat. (fig. 52).
Saint Paul. Minnesota Museum of Art. "Charles E. Burchfield: The Sacred Woods," September 10–November 14, 1993, unnumbered cat.
Buffalo, N. Y. Burchfield-Penney Art Center. "Charles E. Burchfield: The Sacred Woods," December 11, 1993–February 6, 1994, unnumbered cat.
Chattanooga, Tenn. Hunter Museum of American Art. "Charles E. Burchfield: The Sacred Woods," April 3–May 22, 1994, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield from the Collection," October 27, 1998–February 28, 1999, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Drawings (1900–1950): Selections from the Permanent Collection," October 25, 2005–April 23, 2006, no catalogue.
Los Angeles. Hammer Museum. "Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield," October 4, 2009–January 10, 2010, unnumbered cat. (pp. 120–21).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield," June 24–October 17, 2010, unnumbered cat.
"Museums Acquire 16 Pieces of Art." New York Times (December 30, 1943), p. 15.
Rosamund Frost. "Encore by Popular Demand: The Whitney." Art News 42 (December 1–14, 1943), p. 51.
"Whitney Sales." Art News 42 (January 1–14, 1944), p. 6.
American Artists Group, ed. Charles Burchfield. New York, 1945, unpaginated, ill.
Arthur Millier. "Four Years of Whitney-Met Purchases." Arts Digest 21 (October 1, 1946), p. 35.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 71.
Arthur Millier. "Art Masterpieces Lent for Exhibit." Los Angeles Times (June 17, 1951), p. 11.
John I. H. Baur. Charles Burchfield. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1956, pp. 11–12, 17, 55, no. 62, pl. 35.
August Derleth. "Minority Report: 'Charles Burchfield,' Book on his Art, Admirable Work." Madison Capital Times (February 9, 1956), p. 5.
William C. Glackin. "Art in SF: The Burchfield Story." Sacramento Bee (August 2, 1956), p. D 18.
Dorothy Adlow. "Films in Boston and Cambridge—Burchfield Paintings Shown." Christian Science Monitor (May 21, 1956), p. 7.
LaVerne George. "Charles Burchfield." Arts 30 (January 1956), p. 30.
Lloyd Goodrich. "Charles Burchfield." New Art in America: Fifty Painters of the 20th Century. Ed. John I. H. Baur. Greenwich, Conn., 1957, ill. p. 155.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 99–100, ill.
Doris Reno. "Miami's Old 17th Century Friend Found Shining in a New Setting." Miami Herald (August 22, 1965), p. 21E, calls it "Coming of Spring".
Albert Ten Eyck Gardner. History of Water Color Painting in America. New York, 1966, p. 136, colorpl. 121.
Garnett McCoy, John D. Morse, and Charles Ephraim Burchfield. "Charles Burchfield and Edward Hopper: Some Documentary Notes." Archives of American Art Journal 7 (July–October 1967), p. 4.
Joseph S. Trovato, ed. Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections. Utica, N. Y., 1970, pp. 205–6, no. 966, ill. (color).
Joseph S. Czestochowski. "The Published Prints of Charles E. Burchfield." American Art Journal 8 (November 1976), p. 105.
J. Gray Sweeney. Themes in American Painting. Exh. cat., Grand Rapids Art Museum. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1977, pp. 62–65, 210, pl. 29.
Bruce Robertson. "Charles Burchfield, 'Sun Breaking Through Winter Mists'." Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin 37 (Spring 1980), p. 24, fig. 4.
John I. H. Baur. The Inlander: Life and Work of Charles Burchfield, 1893–1967. Cranbury, N.J., 1982, pp. 192–94, 213, 219–20, fig. 161.
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 9, The United States of America. New York, 1987, p. 132, colorpl. 99.
J. Benjamin Townsend, ed. Charles Burchfield's Journals: The Poetry of Place. Albany, 1993, pp. 6, 243, 250, 343, 361, 387, 480, 483, 500–3, 570, 678 n. 65, p. 681 n. 51, p. 687 n. 21, p. 689 n. 32, p. 695 n. 17, p. 696 nn. 64, 69, 71, colorpl. XIII.
Guy Davenport. Charles Burchfield's Seasons. San Francisco, 1994, pp. XI, XLII, fig. 14 (color).
Nannette V. Maciejunes and Norine S. Hendricks. "Nurturing His Muse: The Archives of Charles Burchfield's Creative Life." American Art Journal 28, no. 1/2 (1997), p. 57.
Grace Glueck. "A Solitary Visionary at Home in His Own Backyard." New York Times (January 1, 1999), p. E40.
"Art Guide." New York Times (January 8, 1999), p. E42.
Nancy Weekly. "Breaking the Rules: Charles E. Burchfield's Contribution to Watercolor." American Artist 12 (Fall 2006), pp. 15–16, ill. (color).
Jori Finkel. "Opposites Attract, and an Exhibition Opens." New York Times (October 11, 2009), p. AR25.
Michael Duncan. "Charles Burchfield: Into the Mystic." Art in America 98 (February 2010), p. 100, ill. p. 97 (color).
Jane McFadden. "Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield." X-tra Contemporary Art Quarterly 12 (Spring 2010), p. 44.
Peter Schjeldahl. "Life in a Small Town: Charles Burchfield, Homebody Modernist." New Yorker (July 5, 2010), p. 77.
James Panero. "Gallery Chronicle." New Criterion 29 (September 2010), pp. 45–46.
Charles Burchfield inCharles Burchfield: Fifty Years as a Painter. Exh. cat., DC Moore Gallery. New York, 2010, pp. 35, 39 (originally written in 1965).
Ralph Sessions inCharles Burchfield: Fifty Years as a Painter. Exh. cat., DC Moore Gallery. New York, 2010, p. 80, relates this work to "Retreat of Winter," 1938.
Judith H. Dobrzynski. "'Charles E. Burchfield: Transitions' Review: A Change of Seasons." Wsj.com. August 20, 2019.
Stephen Westfall. "Shine the Light." Art in America 108 (April 2020), p. 64, compares this work to "the ivy mesh" (2004, Private collection) by Mary Weatherford.
Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio 1893–1967 West Seneca, New York)
ca. 1923
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