Dose of Beauty #4

I have been mesmerized lately by the glowing works of Charles Burchfield. I'd like to share with you two of his visionary landscapes. Like many of his paintings, they are full of magical light and buzzing intricate detail. 

Born on April 9, 1893, Burchfield was an American painter renowned for his visionary watercolor landscapes and townscapes. He was a major painter of the 20th century who developed a unique style that often portrayed nature with a blend of romance and hallucinatory intensity. 

Burchfield never abandoned recognizable imagery, however, his distinct handling of paint added an abstract element to natural objects, turning trees and flowers into moody, expressive forms. Working almost exclusively in watercolor, his use of the medium was unconventional. The paintings are heavily worked by watercolor standards, used almost like oil paint. They achieve a feeling of light not by a light touch, but by an intensity of movement using scattered abstracted gestures.

Art critic Jerry Saltz described Burchfield as "the mystic, cryptic painter of transcendental landscapes, trees with telekinetic halos, and haunted houses emanating ectoplasmic auras." He emphasized Burchfield's unique perspective, his connection to nature, and his ability to infuse his work with a sense of the uncanny and the spiritual. Among his influences were van Gogh, Caspar David Friedrich, Marsden Hartley and John Marin.

Dandelion Seed Heads and the Moon 

Watercolor, gouache, charcoal on lightly textured white wove paper, 56" x 40", 1961 

In this large work on paper, we look up at the moon as if we were lying in the field of dandelions at the forefront of the picture. The perspective is deep. We are immersed in the minute, delicate details of stems, stamens and fluff. Everything glows and moves in the moonlight. Muted color and loose brush marks pull the night air around the globe in the sky. The whole painting vibrates. It both captures and creates a mystical moment, performing the task of all good paintings, transporting us out of our everyday life. 

The Sun and Queen Anne's Lace 

Watercolor and gouache on pieced paper laid down on board, 44" × 26-3/4", 1961-1962 

It seems as if by osmosis that Burchfield interpreted nature into the fantastical. He once expressed, “An artist should depict not only what nature reveals, but what is inherently present. To accomplish this, he must devise symbols that, when used skillfully, render his work even more authentic than reality itself.” Although I'm often drawn to his subdued works — eerie drawings with a toned down palette — the more colorful transcendent landscapes bring a much needed rush of joy. 

Burchfield also kept extensive journals recording his experiences in nature, over 70 volumes, but when I see his work, I am often reminded of a seemingly similar mystical experience from Annie Dillard's book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Here is the moment in which she unexpectedly saw a tree come alive with light and super natural life:  

“…..Then one day I was walking along Tinker Creek thinking of nothing at all and I saw the tree with the lights in it.  I saw the backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost charged and transfigured, each cell buzzing with flame. I stood on the grass with the lights in it, grass that was wholly fire, utterly focused and utterly dreamed. It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance. The lights of the fire abated, but I’m still spending the power. Gradually the lights went out in the cedar, the colors died, the cells unflamed and disappeared. I was still ringing. I had my whole life been a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck. I have since only rarely seen the tree with the lights in it. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it, for the moment when the mountains open and a new light roars in spate through the crack, and the mountains slam…”

I hope you have enjoyed these images and they have uplifted your spirit today!