Edward Wales Root

The son of Elihu Root '64, Edward Root graduated from Hamilton College in 1905. After one year of study at Harvard Law School, Root returned to Hamilton to earn an M.A. in 1908. He then began work as an editorial writer for the New York Evening Sun and Harper's Weekly, but left his position to serve with the Red Cross in connection with military relief and personnel during World War I. Root returned to Hamilton in 1920 to become a lecturer in art, a position he held until his retirement in 1940. A prolific collector of paintings and art objects, he served as a trustee of the American Federation of Arts from 1941-1943 and became a member of the Addison Art Committee in 1945. In 1949, Root was appointed consultant of art by the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute in Utica and was eventually named honorary consultant for life by the institution's board of trustees. Hamilton College awarded Root an honorary L.H.D. in 1952. (source: https://archives.hamilton.edu/agents/people/39)

In 1928, Charles E. Burchfield was living in Gardenville, N.Y. (now West Seneca) and supported his family working as a designer at the artistic M. H. Birge & Sons wallpaper company. He also maintained a studio practice and exhibited paintings at the Sunwise Turn Bookshop and Montross Gallery in New York City. As his shows received critical acclaim, Burchfield developed a reputation as an emerging artist to watch. Within a year, he met collector Edward Wales Root, which proved to be a catalytic event for the artist’s career.

Edward Root (1884-1956) had been raised in an atmosphere of travel, learning, and affluence. His forebears were professors at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., a family seat, and his father, Elihu Root, was an attorney and statesman. Deaf since childhood, Edward discovered his calling as a collector of contemporary American art. He acquired his first painting by 1908 and continued to buy into the 1950s, owning artworks by generations of artists, from Edward Hopper to Jackson Pollock. Root’s collection was the basis of the art appreciation course he taught from 1920 to 1940 at Hamilton College.

From his first painting acquisition, Root often met artists in their studios and, at times, developed a rapport with them. His friendship with Burchfield was one of the strongest and longest lasting. The two shared many interests in common, including art, music, and a fascination with nature and the changing seasons. Root eventually acquired more than two dozen watercolors by Burchfield from each of the artist’s stylistic periods. He bequeathed most of this treasure to Munson Museum of Art in Utica, New York.