In fall 1931 Burchfield began this painting after feeling the need to "re-embrace [the] epic poetry of American life" as represented by "the vast lonely stretches of the Midwest. The composition is based closely on one of Burchfield's first oil paintings, a smaller canvas entitled Late Afternoon Twilight (Burchfield Penney Art Center, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, New York), however, the landscape and sky are embellished and dramatized. As the artist wrote: "I have tried to express the coming of winter over the middle-west as it must have felt to the pioneers—great black clouds sweep out of the west at twilight as if to overwhelm not only the pitiful attempt at a town, but also the earth itself." The Met purchased November Evening in 1934, the year it was completed.
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Artwork Details
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Title:November Evening
Artist:Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio 1893–1967 West Seneca, New York)
Date:1934
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:32 1/2 × 52 3/8 in. (82.6 × 133 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:George A. Hearn Fund, 1934
Object Number:34.43
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): C B 1934
[Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery, New York, 1934; sold on March 22, 1934 to MMA]
New York. Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries. "Exhibition by Charles Burchfield," February 5–24, 1934, no. 17.
Pittsburgh. Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute. "An Exhibition of Water Colors and Oils by Charles Burchfield," March 8–April 3, 1938, no. 21 (dated 1931–32).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Contemporary Painting in the United States," April 19–27, 1941, no. 26.
Mexico City. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," June 12–July 9, 1941, unnumbered cat. (p. 32).
Santiago. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," September 6–October 5, 1941, unnumbered cat.
Lima. Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," November 5–30, 1941, unnumbered cat.
Quito. Universidad Central de Ecuador. "La Pintura Contemporánea Norteamericana," December 1941, unnumbered cat.
Buffalo, N.Y. Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery. "Charles Burchfield: A Retrospective Exhibition of Water Colors and Oils, 1916–1943," April 14–May 15, 1944, no. 55.
Salt Lake City. Centennial Art Gallery, Centennial Exposition, Utah State Fair Grounds. "One Hundred Years of American Painting from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City," July 1–29, 1947, no. 62.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. "Famous American Paintings Assembled for the State Fair of Texas," October 9–November 7, 1948, unnumbered cat.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," January 20–March 1, 1949, no. 18.
Art Association of Montreal. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," March 15–April 15, 1949, no. 18.
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," May 5–June 25, 1949, no. 18.
San Francisco. M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," July 10–August 25, 1949, no. 18.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," September 7–October 16, 1949, no. 18.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Milestones of American Painting in Our Century," November 4–December 11, 1949, no. 18.
New York. Wildenstein. "A Special Exhibition of Paintings by American and French Modern Masters," May 4–28, 1955, brochure no. 2.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Charles Burchfield," January 11–February 26, 1956, no. 51.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield," March 14–April 22, 1956.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Charles Burchfield," May 9–June 17, 1956.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield," July 11–August 19, 1956.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield," September 5–October 14, 1956.
Washington, D. C. Phillips Gallery. "Charles Burchfield," November 4–December 11, 1956.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield," January 3–February 10, 1957.
Philadelphia. Peale House Galleries, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. "Charles Burchfield: Paintings," December 3, 1964–January 10, 1965.
Tucson. University of Arizona Art Gallery. "CB: His Golden Year. A Retrospective Exhibition of Watercolors, Oils and Graphics by Charles E. Burchfield," November 14, 1965–January 9, 1966, no. 78.
New York. American Academy of Arts and Letters. "Charles Burchfield Memorial Exhibition," March 1–April 21, 1968, no. 6.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
Utica, N. Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. "The Nature of Charles Burchfield—A Memorial Exhibition," April 9–May 31, 1970 [extended through June 14, 1970].
Bronx County Courthouse. "Paintings from the Metropolitan, Pinturas del Metropolitano," May 12–June 13, 1971, no. 20.
Omaha. Joslyn Art Museum. "The Thirties Decade: American Artists and Their European Contemporaries," October 10–November 28, 1971, no. 21.
Valparaiso, Ind. Christ College Commons, Valparaiso University. "Early Watercolors of Charles Burchfield," February 11–March 4, 1974, no catalogue.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Berlin. Akademie der Künste. "Amerika: Traum und Depression 1920/40," November 9–December 28, 1980.
Kunstverein Hamburg. "Amerika: Traum und Depression 1920/40," January 11–February 15, 1981.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Inlander: Life and Work of Charles Burchfield, 1893–1967," January 30–March 25, 1984, unnumbered cat. (fig. 133).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Landscape Painting," April 4–August 13, 1989, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Charles Burchfield from the Collection," October 27, 1998–February 28, 1999, no catalogue.
"Art Brevities." New York Times (March 28, 1934), p. L21.
Dino Ferrari. "A Challenging View of Modern Art: Mr. Craven Attacks the French Influence and Calls for American Independence." New York Times Book Review (May 20, 1934), ill. p. 9.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Art of Burchfield Glorifies the Drab: Water-Colorist Again Provides Evidence of His Skill in Depicting Freight Cars." New York Times (February 8, 1934), p. L17.
"Some Recent Museum Acquisitions." Parnassus 6 (April 1934), p. 16.
"Art. U.S. Scene." Time 24 (December 24, 1934), foldout between pp. 24 and 25, ill. (color), dates it 1932.
E[manuel]. M. Benson. "A New Yorker Looks His Museums in the Face." American Magazine of Art 27 (October 1934), p. 538.
William M. Ivins, Jr. et al. "Notes." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29 (April 1934), p. 67.
"A Sad Note Creeps Into Burchfield's Art." Art Digest 8 (February 15, 1934), p. 16.
"Charles Burchfield—Rehn Galleries." Art News 32 (February 10, 1934), p. 13, notes that this object is the only oil painting in Exh. New York 1934 and describes it as "a large but simply constructed canvas in which [Burchfield] succeeds in imprisoning the melancholy of the moment after sunset".
Alan Burroughs. Limners and Likenesses: Three Centuries of American Painting. Cambridge, Mass., 1936, pp. 216, fig. 187, dates it 1932 in text and 1934 in caption.
"On the Local Horizons." New York Times (June 21, 1936), p. X7.
Thomas Craven, ed. A Treasury of Art Masterpieces, from the Renaissance to the Present Day. New York, 1939, p. 574, colorpl. 140.
Martha Candler Cheney. Modern Art in America. New York, 1939, pl. 58.
Harry B. Wehle. "National Art Week and the Museum: Trends in American Painting." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 35 (November 1940), ill. p. 10.
"Contemporary Art of the Western Hemisphere." Think 7 (May 1941), ill. p. 16.
American Artists Group, ed. Charles Burchfield. New York, 1945, unpaginated, ill.
Holger Cahill. "In Our Time." Magazine of Art 39 (November 1946), p. 316, ill.
"Revolt in Boston: Shootin' Resumes in the Art World." Life (February 21, 1949), pp. 86–87, ill. (color).
Arthur Millier. "American Nostalgia on View at Museum." Los Angeles Times (September 11, 1949), p. D6.
Edward McNall Burns. Western Civilizations: Their History and Their Culture. 3rd ed. (1st ed., 1941). New York, 1949, n.p., ill. between pp. 674 and 675.
Frederick S. Wight. Milestones of American Painting in Our Century. Exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. New York, 1949, pp. 30, 68, no. 18, ill. p. 69.
Alexander Fried. "Restless Experiment in De Young Exhibit." San Francisco Examiner (July 24, 1949), p. 141.
Paul B. Metzler. "American Painting Exhibition Lures Crowds to Museum." Cleveland Plain Dealer (November 6, 1949), p. 19D.
Thomas Craven. Modern Art: The Men, the Movements, the Meaning. reprint ed. (rev. ed., 1940; 1st ed. 1934). Garden City, N. Y., 1950, ill. n.p.
Bernard Myers, ed. Encyclopedia of Painting: Painters and Painting of the World from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day. New York, 1955, p. 61.
John I. H. Baur. Charles Burchfield. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1956, pp. 17, 49, no. 51, pl. 28.
A. L. Chanin. "Art. Charles Burchfield." Nation 182 (February 18, 1956), p. 145, dates it 1931–34.
Edward Barry. "The Imaginative Charles Burchfield." Chicago Sunday Tribune Magazine of Books (February 12, 1956), ill. pp. part 4, 6–7.
Albert Ten Eyck Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1957, p. 6.
Sam Hunter. Modern American Painting and Sculpture. New York, 1959, p. 112.
Victoria Donohoe. "Art News. Burchfield and Pittman in Peale House Exhibition." Philadelphia Inquirer (December 6, 1964), p. 9.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 98–99, ill.
Joseph S. Trovato, ed. Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections. Utica, N. Y., 1970, pp. 89, 98, 162, no. 830, ill., dates it 1931–34.
Lillian Freedgood. An Enduring Image: American Painting from 1665. New York, 1970, ill. p. 307.
William Henry Holaday III. "Harvey Dunn: Pioneer Painter of the Middle Border." PhD diss., Ohio State University, 1970, pp. 67, 69, fig. 4, dates it 1931–34.
James F. Pilgrim. Paintings from the Metropolitan, Pinturas del Metropolitano. Exh. cat., Bronx County Courthouse. New York, 1971, unpaginated, no. 20.
Sam Hunter and John Jacobus. American Art of the 20th Century: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York, 1973, p. 167, fig. 286.
Marshall B. Davidson. The American Heritage History of the Artists' America. New York, 1973, pp. 306–7, ill., dates it 1934.
Matthew Baigell. Charles Burchfield. New York, 1976, pp. 128, 135, ill. p. 115, dates it 1939.
Joseph S. Czestochowski. "The Published Prints of Charles E. Burchfield." American Art Journal 8 (November 1976), p. 103.
John I. H. Baur. The Inlander: Life and Work of Charles Burchfield, 1893–1967. Cranbury, N.J., 1982, p. 159, fig. 133, dates it 1931–34.
Wayne L. Roosa. "American Art Theory and Criticism During the 1930s: Thomas Craven, George L. K. Morris, Stuart Davis." PhD diss., Rutgers University, 1989, pp. 160–61, fig. 3.
J. Benjamin Townsend, ed. Charles Burchfield's Journals: The Poetry of Place. Albany, 1993, pp. 540, 569, 612, 701 n. 66.
Guy Davenport. Charles Burchfield's Seasons. San Francisco, 1994, p. VIII, ill. p. VI.
Nannette V. Maciejunes and Michael D. Hall. The Paintings of Charles Burchfield: North by Midwest. Exh. cat., Columbus Museum of Art. Columbus, 1997, pp. 78, 117, fig. 31.
Nannette V. Maciejunes and Norine S. Hendricks. "Nurturing His Muse: The Archives of Charles Burchfield's Creative Life." American Art Journal 28, no. 1/2 (1997), p. 43, dates it 1931–34.
Grace Glueck. "A Solitary Visionary at Home in His Own Backyard." New York Times (January 1, 1999), p. E40, dates it 1931–34.
Mark Daniel Cohen in Richard Kostelanetz. "Burchfield, Charles." A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes. 2nd ed. (1st ed., 1993). New York, 2000, p. 91, dates it 1931–34.
Marjorie B. Searl, ed. Seeing America: Painting and Sculpture from the Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester:. Rochester, N.Y., 2006, pp. 193, 214 n.10, dates it 1931–34 and notes this work is a larger version of "Late Afternoon Twilight" (Burchfield-Penney Art Center).
Neil A. Wynn. Historical Dictionary from the Great War to the Great Depression. 2nd ed. Lanham, Md., 2014, p. 38, dates it 1931–34.
Berit Potter. "Grace McCann Morley and the Dialectical Exchange of Modern Art in the Americas, 1935–1958." PhD diss., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 2015, p. 76 n. 1, p. 235, no. 26, includes this work in a discussion about Exh. Mexico City and tour 1941.
Beatriz Cordero inThe Irascibles: Painters Against the Museum, New York, 1950. Ed. Bradford R. Collins et al. Exh. cat., Fundación Juan March. Madrid, 2020, p. 82.
Charles Ephraim Burchfield (American, Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio 1893–1967 West Seneca, New York)
ca. 1923
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