Charles Ephraim Burchfield

Uptown Gallery, New York (acquired by 1992)

Acquired from the above by the present owner

John W. Straus, “Charles E. Burchfield: An Interview with the Artist, an Account and Analysis of his Production, and a Catalogue of his Paintings,” Honors thesis, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1942, no. 389

Joseph S. Trovato, Charles Burchfield: Catalogue of Paintings in Public and Private Collections, Utica, New York, 1970, no. 519, p. 83

The present work was completed during Charles Burchfield’s time in the U.S. Army at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. The artist served in the Camouflage Division and the present work most likely depicts scenes from his time on the Army base. There are many signs and fragments of billboards pictured in Broken Brick Wall which bear resemblance to similar paintings the artist produced in 1917 documenting signage for  a circus coming to Salem, South Carolina.