The Peter E. & Elizabeth M. Parisi Collection of Works by Charles E. Burchfield

Until this exhibition, The Peter E. and Elizabeth M. Parisi Collection of Works by Charles E. Burchfield had never been exhibited in public in its entirety. The collection focuses on early watercolors dating from 1914 to 1917, a painting and the wallpaper it inspired, two lithographs from 1952, and drawings from all periods of Burchfield’s career. The Parisi Collection includes many fine examples of the artist’s stylistic development and the origins of his concerns for landscape and weather patterns, his chronicle of small-town life, and his use of abstraction to convey sensory experiences. The exhibition was supported by grants from the Vogt Family Foundation, Harold C. Brown & Co., and the James Carey Evans Endowment.

Nancy Weekly, who organized the exhibition and wrote the catalog essay, gave a curator’s lecture about Burchfield’s work on Sunday, August 26.  A trip to theBurchfieldNature & ArtCenter,West Senecawas led by Nancy Weekly and Joan Marotta, Sunday, August 26, 2:30 p.m.  This included a tour and remarks by Weekly about the full-scale Burchfield reproductions on display in the main building.  Next, BNAC docents led tours of the grounds to show the nature paths, gardens, a view to Burchfield’s home from the gazebo, and informational signs illustrated with Burchfield paintings that are strategically placed throughout the park-like setting.