Winter Night

1917

Winter Night, 1917. Charles Burchfield (American, 1893–1967). Black ink, black crayon, and graphite on two sheets of butt-joined paper, lined; sheet: 27.7 x 24.8 cm (10 7/8 x 9 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1953.428 Reproduced with permission from the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation In this drawing, Burchfield focused on the two houses seen in his 1917 watercolor, Church Bells Ringing, minimizing the church steeple that dominates the final composition. He also further developed the work’s symbolism, describing the scene as “An imaginary composition—two houses in the foreground; one on the left to represent human evil and misery; that on the right: happiness and innocence. In the background a building to signify . . . materialism, and a church steeple to denote religion or idealism.” The two children who stare out of the window of the left house are replaced in the final watercolor by a Christmas tree, which symbolized Burchfield's favorite holiday.