Poetic Passages

Charles Ephraim Burchfield (1893-1967) became one of America’s most important 20th-century artists, with a specialization in watercolor that defied tradition. In many ways, he owes the trajectory of his career to Edward Wales Root (1884-1956), who was an art collector and professor of art at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. The son of U.S. statesman Elihu Root, he was not only an early collector of Burchfield’s works, but he also introduced the emerging artist to dealer Frank K. M. Rehn which started his representation in New York City among other important American artists, including Edward Hopper.

The exhibition presents the extraordinary Charles E. Burchfield Collection belonging to Munson that was created through the foresight and generosity of Edward W. Root. It is comprised of 24 works on paper by Burchfield that were originally acquired by Mr. Root personally or under his direction as an advisor to Munson in the late-1940s. This includes such famous watercolor paintings as Childhood’s Garden (A Memory of Childhood) (1917), The Insect Chorus (1917), Skunk Cabbage (1931), and The Sphinx and The Milky Way (1946). For the sake of preserving these fragile works on paper, the collection is rarely exhibited. Therefore, this is a rare opportunity to see the entire collection and an opportune time to discover many works that have never been shown in Buffalo before. 

The exhibition catalogue consists of full-page, color reproductions of the 22 Burchfield paintings and 2 drawings in the Munson collection. Mary E. Murray, Munson’s Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, provides interpretive texts and valuable information about the collection’s development in her catalogue essay. To tell the story of the relationship between Burchfield and Root, their growing friendship emerges in letters, shared here for the first time. 

To provide context, Burchfield Scholar Nancy Weekly selected a few examples from the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s Collection and robust Charles E. Burchfield Foundation Archives, comprised of 25,000 objects, most being studies for works created throughout the artist’s career.

Burchfield wrote about the significance that Root played in his life with great respect and appreciation, acknowledging: “Much has been written, and more will be written in the future, of the importance of Edward Root as a patron of American art, and particularly of his encouragement and support of younger artists before they had achieved much of a reputation—of which I was one.” For example, in 1924 while he was working as a wallpaper designer and painting part-time, Burchfield learned that the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased one of his works on Root’s recommendation. The turning point in Burchfield’s career occurred in 1929 when Root visited Burchfield’s Gardenville, NY studio and saw very early work dating from 1916 to 1918 that excited him so much that he arranged for a meeting at his home in Clinton where he invited Frank K. M Rehn to join them. It sparked an immediate enthusiastic reaction. Rehn started selling Burchfield’s work in his New York Gallery (Mr. Root bought several), giving Burchfield the confidence to resign from his wallpaper job to achieve his goal to be an independent artist.

Premiering at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY from April 11 through July 27, 2025, this traveling exhibition will be presented at Munson in Utica, NY later in the year.