Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

Nostalgically, Burchfield appreciated blacksmith shops, a business rapidly disappearing in the 20th century. While this is not a study for the Munson’s painting, it shares many of the features that fellow artist Edward Hopper praised in his article, “Charles Burchfield: American,” published in Arts in July 1928. He wrote: “In the Country Blacksmith Shop, he has attempted, and succeeded with, the difficult problem of giving the sensation for which so few try, of the interior and exterior of a building seen simultaneously. A common visual sensation. He has fixed with tremendous reality the exact mood of the scene and the typically forlorn landscape surrounding the building.” — NW