Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967), Indian Pipe and Red-Capped Mushrooms, Design for a Tile, February 28, 1913; watercolor and pencil on paper, 7 x 4 15/16 inches; Burchfield Penney Art Center, Charles E. Burchfield Foundation Archives, Gift of the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, 2006
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, May 22, 1935
Monday, May 22, 2023
We had the mushrooms last night for supper and sick & vomited in the night as last year. I am convinced now that my liking for sponge mushrooms is one of pure sentiment. One or two bites, and then they lose their glamour; and taste – it all probably goes back to the year 1919 when I found so many on the hillside by the Y&O tracks near Millville. We ate them until we were heartily sick of them. In spite of everything, it is hard for me to eliminate from my mind the romantic notion that these fungi are some rare gastronomic treat.
“a noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that.” – Moby Dick (“The Ship”)
Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, May 22, 1935