UTICA, NY.- Experience the wonder of summer through an enchanting exhibition at Munson Museum of Art in downtown Utica, N.Y. “Watercolor Stories: The Art of Charles E. Burchfield,” opening Friday, June 12, explores the enduring friendship between artist Charles E. Burchfield and Munson benefactor Edward Root through a collection of dynamic and expressive watercolor paintings, letters, and other archival materials. The exhibition remains on view through Sept. 13.
Burchfield was an artist with a sensitivity to all aspects of the natural world, focusing on sites of emotional connection largely in Ohio and Western New York that inspired him throughout his life. He transformed his emotions into vibrant depictions of the power and beauty of nature through his expressive artwork.
Taking inspiration from the work of American philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, Burchfield was also a prolific writer, chronicling thoughts on life, nature, and his own artwork in both personal journals and letters to family and friends.
“Burchfield wrote with great emotion about how moved he was seeing sunlight breaking through a cloudy sky or happening upon a magnificent tree within a walk through the woods,” says Mary Murray, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Munson. “His time in nature was a spiritual experience.”
Because of Edward Root’s sustained interest in Burchfield’s work, which he gave to Munson after his death, the Museum of Art owns watercolors and drawings from several different stylistic phases of Burchfield’s career. His artistic development can be seen from early watercolor scenes filled with emotional intensity to more mature works morphing ordinary subjects into mystical experiences.
“Munson is fortunate to own such a remarkable collection of Burchfield’s provocative watercolors,” says Stephen Harrison, Munson Director and Chief Curator. “These works are rarely shown in order to prevent them from fading. As a result, they are as vibrant and mesmerizing as the day they were painted.”
The exhibition is accompanied by the publication “Poetic Passages: Charles E. Burchfield and Edward W. Root in Art and Letters,” co-published by Munson and the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo. The book reproduces for the first time the complete set of transcribed letters that Burchfield sent to the Roots, along with images of Burchfield’s works in Munson’s collection. “Poetic Passages” is available in the Munson Museum Shop.
Admission for “Watercolor Stories: Art of Charles E. Burchfield” is $8 for the general public and free for Munson Members. Plan your next visit at munson.art.
The exhibition is co-organized by Munson and the Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State University.
