Tracks in the Snow

Description

In his landscapes Burchfield tried to express the spiritual aspects of his encounters with nature. In this respect, he is heir to a tradition that began in nineteenth-century American art with painters of the Hudson River School. Burchfield chose watercolor for the fantastic, almost mystical scenes of nature he created. In his late works, including Tracks in the Snow, he employed a distinctive technique of building up heavy layers of brushstrokes to create strong, weighty shapes. This winter cityscape reflects Burchfield’s love of the transitions between seasons and shows him attentive to the tell-tale signs of coming spring (the yellows and greens of the bark of the tree, the warm patches of sunlight) in the midst of late winter (the wet snow, the dreary landscape). The large tree, its branches curling expressively, takes on a life of its own, with only the tracks in the snow to serve as reminder of human life.
Born in Ohio, Burchfield studied in Cleveland and then at the National Academy of Design in New York, which he left after one day of class. He returned soon thereafter to Ohio, where he worked as an accountant, painting during his free time. He moved to Buffalo in 1921 and lived in that vicinity for the rest of his life.