Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

“The painting was started in 1935; at the time it was a small study, made on the spot, about twenty miles east of Gardenville. The size then was about 25 x 29”—later I decided that the idea had possibilities for a much grander scale; so I added paper all around, increasing the size to 32 x 50”. The tree on the right was added, and many changes made in the middle ground. It was completed in 1943 and exhibited in New York. In 1944 it was included in my retrospective show at the Albright Gallery and later was circulated all over the country in an exhibition of my work picked from the show by the American Federation of Arts. At the time of my retrospective, Mr. Richardson of the Detroit Museum, who was doing an article for the Magazine of Art, came to Buffalo to visit the studio and the exhibition. July was one he was particularly fond of. He reproduced it as the headliner to his article which appeared in October, 1944.” —Charles E. Burchfield