Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

The Burchfield family’s gold painted clapboard home in Salem, Ohio is seen in this view from the backyard, looking north down the side alley toward East Fourth Street. For some time, the town had been experiencing drought conditions. At noon on July 31^st he wrote: “Sky is grey at bottom, blending to lighter above & is lightly tinged with pale yellow—” The sulfurous sky may be the result of pollution from coke production in nearby Leetonia, or it may be the odd coloration preceding a storm.

Text by Nancy Weekly for Roots: Burchfield’s Early Subjects, Themes and Influences, October 30, 2004 - May 1, 2005