Object number2023.4.9
Heat Waves in a Swamp
Date1948
Artist
Charles Burchfield
(American, 1893 - 1967)
CultureAmerican
MediumWatercolor and gouache on pressed paper board
DimensionsOverall: 39 3/4 x 25 5/8 in. (101 x 65.1 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Lynn Gross Straus, class of 1946
Period20th c
Classification(s)
SignedOn recto, monogrammed lower right in black watercolor: CEB
InscribedOn recto, by artist, lower right in black watercolor: 1948; on verso, likely by artist, lower right in charcoal: 117[underlined]; lower left corner: 1948; by unidentified hand upper left in blue ink: Port / 423[within rectangular box outline]; upper center in black marker: BURCHFIELD CEBF#4 / "HEAT-WAVES IN / A SWAMP" / 40 X 26 (1948); lower center in blue marker: #628[circled]
MarkingsOn verso, stamped upper left in brown ink: PHOTO
BibliographyMunson-Williams-Proctor Institute. Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections. Utica, NY: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1970, p. 318ProvenanceVassar Exhibitions
Exhibition HistoryCharles Burchfield, Frank K. M. Rhen Galleries, New York, NY, April 10 – May 10, 1950Label TextCharles Burchfield achieved renown in his lifetime, including a TIME magazine profile, for his visionary watercolors of nature and small-town America. He took inspiration from the woods around his homes in Ohio and western New York, channeling his personal experience of nature into watercolors of hallucinatory intensity.
DescriptionA vegetal landscape with steam-like waves in the lower half and a cloud-filled blue sky with rays of yellow sun streaming downwards in the upper half. The composition is made with thick overlapping brushstrokes.Terms
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