Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, November 28, 1938

B&I take Arthur to Buffalo to see toys, - Toy departments bore me terribly; - the blatant commercializing of childhood’s instincts, the long line of youngsters waiting their turn to see & talk to Santa Claus. But happily, Arthur lives in another world – it was plainly all heavenly to him, he could not get enough. 

Our last stop at Genesee Picture Frame Co. They had there a reproduction of Bellows’ White-Horse, quite large. Indifferently as it was reproduced, it still had the tremendous vitality of Bellows’ original. The remarkable thing about this picture is that if the various objects in it are considered separately they seem indifferently drawn, but viewed as a whole, the ensemble is full of powerful, vibrating drawing – not a thing is put in but adds to the emotion, and dramatic power of the natural phenomenon he was recording. 

Your unimaginative mediocre painter cannot see this; he thinks the houses & trees are badly drawn – real art is closed to him. Ten thousand artists exist who probably can readily draw & paint the various things in this picture more correctly, but only one in a hundred thousand can paint such a picture as Bellows. 

A strong wind out of the south tonight – it stirs to the depths. 

Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, November 28, 1938