Charles Ephraim Burchfield

Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1974

Boca Raton, Florida, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, Charles Burchfield - An American Visionary, November 11, 2004 - January 16, 2005

Nancy Weekly,"Song of the Telegraph: An Interpretation", Song of the Telegraph, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York, March 14 – June 14, 2009

Watercolor and goauche on paper joined and mounted on board; generally in good condition: minor surface soiling noticeable, discoloration evident along edges, especially along top and left edges; paper slightly lifting from board at upper right corner; paper tape stretching across top edge verso
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In February Wind and Sunlight (The Wind Harp), Burchfield contemplates nature and envisions, abstractly, its sounds.  In doing so, he reexamines consistent themes that reappear in many of his works, most notably his famed Song of the Telegraph (1917-1952) of a few years earlier.  In both works Burchfield considers the sounds made by the wind as it passes over physical objects, whether over a telegraph line, through a line of trees, or across the wings of a bird.

In The Wind Harp, Burchfield pays particular interest to a line of trees that operate as a natural harp, creating an image of a song, visibly passing from right to left, performed by nature.  In an entry from his journals for March, 1956, Burchfield wrote of a particular row of poplar trees on his neighbor’s property:

The wind-harp – the ancients invented a harp which they placed in porches, or an open window where the wind would catch it, and in passing through the strings, make soft weird “music” – (Aeolian Harp)

Nature of course “invented” the harp long before that — Any row of pines or poplars or similar trees sufficient to produce agonizing music that no human effort could match —

It is the season when milky icicles hang down from broken ends of maple branches —below are the sun-chiseled jagged snow-piles (that tell us the angle of the sun’s rays — Trees in the foreground are dark, but these in the distant east catch the last warm yellowish glow from the last afterglow in the west — there is a chill in the air —and a feeling of expectancy — Somewhere a robin complains —it is Early Spring — (Nancy Weekly, op. cit.)