The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 16, 2024

The Sun Through the Trees

The Sun Through the Trees

June 30, 1917
(American, 1893–1967)
America, 20th century
Watercolor and opaque watercolor
Sheet: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.)
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1930.849
Reproduced with permission from the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation
Catalogue raisonné: Straus 240; Trovato 350
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This work is an early example in which Burchfield began to paint directly and expressively with watercolor rather than carefully sketching out his composition in advance.

Description

While sketching in the Ohio countryside in 1916, Burchfield began to represent the sun as a dramatic orb. This sheet is part of a group in which the artist suggested stained glass windows using trees and the sun. Here, branches reach toward the sun to form a dark, halo-like frame filled by sunlight that diffuses into an array of color. By combining landscape with religious iconography, Burchfield suggested the divine influence he saw in nature.
  • 1930
    (Frank K.M. Rehn Gallery, NY, sold to Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
  • Exhibition of Paintings by Charles Burchfield. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland School of Art, 1941. Mentioned: no. 2
    Trovato, Joseph S. Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections. Utica: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1970. Mentioned: p. 64, no. 350
  • 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 Exhibition. Ashtabula Arts Center, Ashtabula, OH (organizer) (May 30-June 6, 1979).
    Charles Burchfield. Ashtabula Arts Center.
    Cleveland Watercolors and Enamels. Beck Center for the Arts, Lakewood, OH (organizer) (April 20-July 26, 1976).
    Cleveland Watercolors and Enamels. Civic Art Gallery, Lakewood, OH (1976).
    Fine Arts Exhibition. Ohio State Fair, Columbus, OH (August 27-September 7, 1970).
    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).
    Charles Burchfield: A Retrospective Exhibition of Watercolors and Oils 1916-1943. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (organizer); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 4-28, 1945).
    Exhibition of Paintings by Charles Burchfield. The Cleveland School of Art.
  • {{cite web|title=The Sun Through the Trees|url=false|author=Charles Burchfield|year=June 30, 1917|access-date=16 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1930.849