Joseph Hays Burchfield (1890-1952)

Joseph Hays Burchfield (Sept. 15, 1890-Nov. 3, 1952) was born in Youngstown, Ohio and studied at the Cleveland School of Art. During World War I, he served in the medical corps of the U.S. Army’s Sixteen Infantry in France. On July 22, 1918, he was shot in the hip while attending to a wounded soldier. For this, and other acts of heroism, General Pershing awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross. Trained as an artist, Joseph later became advertising manager of the George H. Bowman Co. He was one of two older brothers of Charles E. Burchfield. He married Ruth McIntyre and they adopted a son, James. The Burchfield Penney Art Center collects artwork that contextualizes Charles Burchfield; therefore, this work fits the categories of being both Burchfield family and Cleveland School of Art colleague.

This book plate design is in the style of the British illustrator and author Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), which was shown in CSA classes. In 1965, Charles Burchfield noted that “…Mr. Keller introduced me to the world of Aubrey Beardsley, a decadent world indeed; but it was not his subject matter that interested me so much as his remarkable designing in black and white. All of this was pretty heady material for a young art student.”

Ruth McIntyre also was an alumna of the Cleveland School of Art. She is mentioned in A History of Cleveland and Its Environs: the Heart of New Connecticut [Ohio], Vol. 3, by Elroy McKendree Averty (1918), as the daughter of Joseph McIntyre and Rosina Brady McIntrye with the distinction: “Ruth, a lady of superior acquirements, who is curator of the Cleveland Art School.” The American Art Annual, Vol. 20 (1924) lists Ruth McIntyre as Secretary of the Alumni Association of the Cleveland School of Art.

Signed bottom right: “JOSEPH H. BURCHFIELD”

With brown paper cover sheet and label inscribed: BURCHFIELD/ SAUER/ STUDIOS/

Advertisers’ Art Service/ 610 Mutual Home Building/ Dayton, Ohio – Main 146”