The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Winter Night

Winter Night

1917
(American, 1893–1967)
America, 20th century
black ink, black crayon, and graphite on two sheets of butt-joined paper, lined
Sheet: 27.7 x 24.8 cm (10 7/8 x 9 3/4 in.)
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1953.428
Reproduced with permission from the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The two children who stare out of the window of the left house are replaced in the final watercolor by a Christmas tree, which symbolized Burchfield's favorite holiday.

Description

In this drawing, Burchfield focused on the two houses seen in his 1917 watercolor, Church Bells Ringing, minimizing the church steeple that dominates the final composition. He also further developed the work’s symbolism, describing the scene as “An imaginary composition—two houses in the foreground; one on the left to represent human evil and misery; that on the right: happiness and innocence. In the background a building to signify . . . materialism, and a church steeple to denote religion or idealism.”
  • 1917-1953
    Charles Burchfield [1893-1967], Buffalo, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    1953-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Prasse, Leona E. The Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art,1953. Mentioned: no. 59
    Prasse, Leona E. "An Exhibition of the Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art (November 1953): 203. Mentioned: p. 203
  • Charles Burchfield: The Ohio Landscapes, 1915–1920. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 22, 2018-May 5, 2019).
    Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 28-July 18, 2004).
    Charles Burchfield Retrospective Exhibition. Whitney Museum of American Art (January 11-February 26, 1956); The Baltimore Museum of Art (March 14-April 22, 1956); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (May 9-June 17, 1956); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (July 11-August 19, 1956); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (September 5-October 14, 1956); The Phillips Collection (November 4-December 11, 1956); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 28, 1956-February 10, 1957).
    The Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 4, 1953-January 10, 1954).
  • {{cite web|title=Winter Night|url=false|author=Charles Burchfield|year=1917|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.428