Emerson Burkhart

Emerson Burkhart. . Born in 1905 in rural Kalida, Ohio, Emerson Burkhart came into his artistic maturity during the ’40s as a portrait artist and a chronicler of the fastchanging world around him. Working in his Columbus studio, he chose to distance himself from most of the vanguard art movements of his time. , Burkhart worked in various styles during his career, and created paintings depicting his disdain for wretched excess and our evolution to a disposable society. He documented African American life in Columbus, as well as street life here and around the world. He is well known for more than 200 self portraits depicting the many facets of human behavior. , A popular local event was Burkhart’s annual Open House, usually scheduled to coincide with a Columbus Museum of Art event. The first one attracted such a large crowd that the line stretched down the long block from his Woodland Avenue home to Broad Street. One person remembered seeing many of his paintings marked at $34.50. When asked about that price, he responded that it was the amount of his monthly car payment. , In his own time, Burkhart never gained recognition as the luminary he aspired to be. He died in his home in November 1969. Today, he emerges from obscurity in a world where second tier and idiosyncratic artists are celebrated. From 1999 to 2005, 1,000 art students worked under the supervision of art conservators to remove paint from his 13' x 70' mural known as Music. He originally painted the mural over the auditorium at Central High School in 1934, but in 1938, it was painted over. The mural, which depicts young women and men dancing and playing music, is now permanently installed of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. , Burkhart’s paintings are currently in collections of the Columbus Museum of Art; The Butler Art Institute in Youngstown, Ohio; Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia; The Dayton Museum of Art; Franklin University; International School of America; Flint Institute of Arts; Capital University; The Ohio State University; the Ohio Historical Society; the Smithsonian; and numerous private collections.