Do you know who I mean?

Roughly ten years ago I saw an exhibit at the Whitney of an upstate New York painter of the first half of the 20th century, maybe from the 30s, who created oils of trees and houses.  These trees seemed to tell you their lives' stories.  They have been haunting me for years, and I can't remember the painter's name.  

They were snipets of rural and somewhat decaying homes and vegetation, dark greens, browns and burgundies.  The perspectives had a little distortion to them, the perspective from which the scenes were viewed were some unusual, they were elongated, and they weren't homes viewed from the street, you were looking from behind a tree or looking as if you were laying down on the grass looking at a house on a hill above you.  

Anyone know who painted like this?


Charles Burchfield, maybe? The Whitney had a 2010 exhibition of his work.

Charles Burchfield | Whitney Museum of American Art


Oh yes!  That's him.  Thank you.


His iconography has been appropriated, hopefully with cash to is family, by the Halloween decorations industry which is a shame, because the paintings are awesome, as in the literal sense of the word.  They are haunting, huge, powerful and beautiful.  

There is a guy in the reserve where I live you uses pastels to draw the landscape and the trees which are very unusual trees.  The drawings are very good, but I wanted him to see these because he's got the skill to push his work a bit further.  I hope he gets my message as intended.

Thank you folks.  If you haven't seen his work, I heartily recommend it to you.  If you have, look at it again.  I wish I could.



In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.