The Daily Bulletin Archive

Exalted Nature: The Real and Fantastic World of Charles E. Burchfield, a traveling exhibition, opened at the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, on August 23, where it will be on view through November 16. Exalted Nature was co-organized by the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the Brandywine River Museum of Art. The exhibition was co-curated by Nancy Weekly and Audrey Lewis, who both provided essays in the illustrated 128-page catalog. The exhibition will travel to the Burchfield Penney Art Center from December 12, 2014, through February 22, 2015.

The world’s leading scholar on the American artist Charles E. Burchfield (1893–1967), Weekly returned to the Brandywine River Museum of Art on September 10 to present “A Hidden World Revealed.” Her talk addressed Burchfield’s range of interests, his passionate devotion to nature, his synesthetic perceptions, and cyclical approach to subjects. She focused on his pioneering watercolor painting techniques and invention of “Conventions for Abstract Thoughts” to convey emotions and “audio-cryptograms” to symbolize sounds from the animated world that taps all the senses.

Weekly is the head of collections and Charles Cary Rumsey curator at the Burchfield Penney. She is also a lecturer in Buffalo State's museum studies program.

Media coverage for Exalted Nature: The Real and Fantastic World of Charles Burchfield:

Brandywine River Museum of Art

Burchfield Penney Art Center

“Exalted Nature: The Real and Fantastic World of Charles Burchfield,” ARTfix Daily (June 22, 2014)

Sarah E. Fensom, “Back to Nature,” Art & Antiques magazine 36 (8): 84–89

Thomas Hine, “Art: Burchfield dazzles at the Brandywine,” Philadelphia Inquirer (August 31, 2014)