Military Magic or Nature’s Fool

f this world lasts for a million years or two million years, or more, never can you exhaust the subject matter of humanity and nature, " said Charles Burchfi eld regarding his source of inspiration. " I don't know how much time I've got left, but I'd like to have at least another lifetime… to say what I want to say about nature. " This fascination began during the artist's childhood in Salem, Ohio, where he " formed the habit of wandering off to the woods and fi elds… in search of wild fl owers in the spring or colored leaves in the fall. " These, along with blossoming trees and all manner of plants, made up his earliest drawings, also described in copious journals, more than 10,000 pages. " I hereby dedicate my life and soul to the study and love of nature, with the purpose to bring it before the mass of uninterested public. " Burchfi eld's art education began at the Cleveland School of Art, where he became familiar with the teachings of artist and philosopher Arthur Wesley Dow who, ahead of his time, believed that nature should be depicted not in realistic terms but in a harmonious presentation of compositional elements (line, color, light and dark). During these years, Burchfi eld absorbed such diverse infl uences as Chinese scroll paintings; the works of Hiroshige, Hokusai, and Aubrey Beardsley; and Russian ballet designs by Léon Bakst. But " The greatest inspiration to me was Henry G. Keller… not only a good painter but also a good teacher…. He made you feel as though art was the most important thing in the world, and you couldn't do better than to be an artist if you had the aptitude for it. " Keller said that his student's " inability to see form " and his " virtually complete concentration on two-dimensional pattern amounted almost to genius. " A scholarship in 1916 to the national Academy of Design in New York City did not appeal, as Burchfi eld dropped out of the program after 1 day. But during his brief stay in the city, he met art critic and instructor Mary Mowbray-Clarke, who showed his works at her gallery, the Sunwise Turn Book shop, launching his career as a leading artist. Later, he was to describe 1917 as his " golden year. " This period and up to 1918 was …