Burning Mining Town from Vista Series
started 1966, published 1968
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph in black and yellow with watercolor on Rives BFK wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 43.2 x 76.5 cm (17 x 30 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1985.47.23
Art Historical Context
William Crutchfield's *Burning Mining Town from Series*, started in 1966 and in 1968, a dramatic panoramic vista of industrial decay and destruction. This lithograph, printed in stark black and yellow tones with added watercolor on luxurious Rives BFK wove paper (sheet: 43.2 x 76.5 cm), evokes the fiery ruin of a remote mining. As part of the Vista Series, it emphasizes landscapes, blending the precision of lithography—a planographic printing technique ideal for bold contrasts and subtle gradations—with the fluidity of watercolor for heightened emotional depth. The limited color palette inten...
About the Artist
William Crutchfield
William Richard Crutchfield (January 21, 1932 – April 20, 2015) was an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor born in Indianapolis, Indiana, who became celebrated for monumental color lithographs of industrial machinery, trains, and aircraft. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Herron School of Art at Indiana University in 1956, followed by a Master of Fine Arts from Tulane Universi...