1924
wallpaper, produced by M. H. Birge & Sons Company, pattern #2922, with artist's inscription
25 1/2 x 19 1/4 inches (sight)
Burchfield Penney Art Center, Gift of the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, 2006
Artist’s notation: “REDBIRDS AND BEECH-TREES” / c. 1924 / BASED ON A 1917 WATER-COLOR”
Burchfield based his wallpaper Redbirds and Beech Trees on his 1917 painting, Song of the Redbird, which he enlarged, enhanced with echoing cardinal calls, and completed in 1960. The wallpaper has a similar magical forest filled with swirling fog. Red cup fungus on the leaf-covered ground balances red birds perched in trees. This design was likely one of Burchfield’s favorites, because he hung this pink colorway in the pantry of his home.