The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night, No. 3

Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night, No. 3

1917
(American, 1893–1967)
Sheet: 25.2 x 13.8 cm (9 15/16 x 5 7/16 in.); Secondary Support: 26.9 x 13.8 cm (10 9/16 x 5 7/16 in.)
Reproduced with permission from the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Burchfield drew in layers of graphite to create forms on the church's steeple that suggest the sound of ringing bells and appearance of dripping rain.

Description

This drawing is a study for one of Burchfield’s Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night, painted in December 1917. The artist described the work as “an attempt to express a childhood emotion—a rainy winter night—the church bell is ringing and it terrifies me (the child)—the bell ringing motive reaches out and saturates the rainy sky—the roofs of the houses dripping with rain are influenced; the child attempts to be comforted by the thoughts of candle lights and Christmas trees, but the fear of the black, rainy night is overpowering.”
  • 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. "An Exhibition of the Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art (November 1953): 203. Mentioned: p. 203
    Prasse, Leona E. The Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art,1953. Mentioned: no. 32
    Townsend, J. Benjamin. An American Visionary: Watercolors and Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield. Exh. Cat. Boston: Athenæum, 1986. Mentioned: no. 50
  • 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).
    An American Visionary: Watercolors and Drawings of Charles E. Burchfield. Currier Museum of Art; Berkshire Museum; Boston Athenaeum (March 20-May 16, 1986).
    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=Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night, No. 3|url=false|author=Charles Burchfield|year=1917|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.431