Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, Vol. 55, March 10, 1954

The second day – somehow we got onto the subject of press-notices and Gene told us about his first notice. He was working as a bundle wrapper for Browning King & Co. in Buffalo – He sent a picture to the Art Gallery where it was exhibited – Headline in the paper ‘Clothing Misfit succeeds in Art” – So I told the remark Du Bois [erased and covered with ???] once made about my work ‘Burchfield is only Hopper on a rainy day’ –
Charles Burchfield, March 10, 1954

Today is the death date of Lewis Mumford, American historian and critic (1895-1990). In 1934 Mumford wrote negatively that “Burchfield is Hopper on a dull November day; in short, a minor talent, sustained by subjects which must be grim and pathetic in themselves before he can use them…” Twenty years later, while serving on an art selection jury “Zigrosser, Maldarelli, Speicher, Young & myself” in New York, he commiserated with his friend Eugene Speicher about receiving bad press by telling the story above.