Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), The Glow of Christmas, 1952; watercolor on paper, 20 1/2 X 26 1/4 inches sight; Image from the Burchfield Penney Art Center Archives.
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, Vol. 41, December 27, 1938
Wednesday, Dec 24, 2014
Christmas is truly of season of “let-down” and expansion. One perforce abandons all critical faculty, and enjoys anything that is passible. If it expresses the one thought of good-will, it seems surpassing good. Thus Bertha & I came out at the end of “The Christmas Carol” with streaming eyes and choked voices, feeling that we should buy gifts for everyone in sight. So therefore it was a good movie, for wasn’t that its intended effect on the audience? Yet the critic of “Time” tells us that it is a wretchedly bad movie from beginning to end. Perhaps so, if it is viewed a week before, or a week after Christmas, but as Christmas fare, it is just right.
Charles E. Burchfield, Vol. 41, December 27, 1938, pg 54