Crickets in November

Crickets in November — Charles Burchfield. 1917.

Medium: Pen and brown ink with black ink, colored crayons, and graphite, with watercolor on two sheets of butt-joined wove paper, lined. Dimensions: 21.9 x 27.6 cm (8 5/8 x 10 7/8 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

This drawing contains themes that Burchfield developed to visually convey sound—in this case, the repetitive chirping of crickets. The combination of script-like lines and repeated forms in the foreground evoked the rising and falling of the insects’ noise, and recurred throughout Burchfield’s work around this time.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.