Burchfield, Charles Ephraim (1893-1967), was an American water-color painter of landscapes and rural life. His earliest works deal with childhood fantasies and scenes from nature. He later turned to more realistic studies of industrial subjects and the gloomy aspects of small-town life. These scenes were based on his early years spent in Salem, Ohio, and on his adult years in Buffalo, N.Y. Some of Burchfield’s paintings of decaying Victorian houses are at times humorous, and at other times full of mystery. Burchfield was born on April 9, 1893, in Ashtabula, Ohio. He died on Jan. 10, 1967.