Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

The 1948 painting, Spider and Grasshoppers, was exhibited at the Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery in New York City and later returned to Burchfield. He stored it in his studio until 1963, when he decided to change the composition radically. First, he made this full-scale tracing of the original composition. Then he erased the prominent grasshoppers and other elements, focusing on enlarging the spider catching a butterfly rather than a grasshopper, parched wildflowers, and a drought sun. The elegant unfinished painting still titled Spider and Grasshoppers is in the Burchfield Penney Art Center's collection. — Nancy Weekly, Burchfield Scholar