Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), New Moon in January, 1918, watercolor and graphite on paper, 17 3/4 x 13 1/2 inches (Frame: 24 1/4 x 20 1/4 inches), Burchfield Penney Art Center, Gift of Charles Rand Penney, 1994.
Charles E. Burchfield Journal, January 3, 1915
Monday, Jan 3, 2022
Nature should be loved purely for her own sake. My ideal of painting is to catch the beauties of nature for their own sake not as clothes for our morals & “soul sensations” which may be the degeneracy of the age. Viewing nature absolutely, we can never hamper our art with ludicrous moral or philosophical whims, at which a later saner age must laugh. I come to Nature not to create a fantastic expression of my own soul, but to faithfully portray the soul of nature. My soul is the means, not the end.
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, January 3, 1915.