Martha Elizabeth Burchfield Richter

Born in Buffalo, New York, on June 28, 1924,[2] Burchfield was raised by her parents, Charles, a painter who also worked for a time as a designer at the H.M. Birge wallpaper company,[3] and Bertha (née Kenreich) Burchfield, a homemaker. At 2 years of age, Burchfield with her family moved to the Gardenville area of West Seneca, New York, where she remained for the rest of her life.

Burchfield was the second oldest of five children. She and her siblings, Mary Alice, Sarah Ruth (Sally), Catherine and Arthur grew up across the street from the 29-acre Island Park, which in 1999 became the Charles E. Burchfield Nature & Art Center[4] (BNAC) in honor of her father.[5] It is composed of wild and cultivated gardens, a large playground, nature trails, and an outdoor amphitheater alongside the banks of the Buffalo Creek.[6]

In 1928, Charles approached artist-gallerist Frank Rehn to see whether he could afford to paint full-time by selling through the Rehn gallery in New York City. Though the decision to leave Birge wallpaper company preceded the Great Depression, Charles's works continued to sell.[7] From thereon, he was able to support the family through his artwork.

From early childhood, Burchfield loved to draw and paint. She was encouraged by her father and her talent was evident. At age 12, she won a drawing contest earning her $1 and a story in the paper.[8]

Burchfield attended Gardenville High School, which was named for its location in the Gardenville section of West Seneca. The school system promoted Richter one grade and she ended up in the same class as her sister Mary Alice who was a year older. On her 17th birthday in 1941, Burchfield became the salutatorian of her graduating class while Mary Alice was named valedictorian.[9]

After graduation, Burchfield attended Albright Art School[10] in Buffalo for one year studying with artists Philip C. Elliott[11] and Florence Julia Bach.[12] With the help of scholarships, she followed in her father's footsteps and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her mentors at the institute included such artists as William Joseph Eastman, Carl Frederick Gaertner, and Paul Travis. Her aunt, Louise Burchfield, served as the institute's assistant curator of painting at the institute.[13]

Along with Richter, her sister Catherine Burchfield Parker (1926–2012) and daughter, Peggy Richter Haug (Born May 11, 1948), also became painters. Parker painted more abstracts, but Peggy also liked to paint landscapes and said she loved the Western New York countryside. When Haug was a teenager and young adult, she participated in three-generational exhibits alongside her mother and grandfather.[14]

On August 3, 1946, Burchfield married Henry (Hank) Richter, a local boy who served for three and a half years in the Army Air Force in the European Theater. The couple was married in her parents' home, with siblings Catherine and Arthur Burchfield serving as maid of honor and best man respectively.[15]

The couple lived on Cloverside Drive in West Seneca, just a little more than a mile from her parents' home. She was the only one of the five children to remain in West Seneca through adulthood.

Martha and Henry raised three children. Along with daughter Peggy, she had two sons: Tom (born Sept. 20, 1949) and David (born June 9, 1953). She stayed home with the children while he served as the assistant to the highway superintendent for the Town of West Seneca. He also worked as a flight instructor and FAA examiner.[14]

In news interviews, Richter talked about her love of cooking, sewing, and raising children, but she also spoke to her yearning to create art. In an April 1960 interview with Jean Reeves in the Buffalo Evening News titled "Amid Houseful of Distractions, Woman Artist Paints on," Richter said, "All my life I wanted to be an artist. But I fought against it. I'd stand in front of Dad's paintings and I'd think Why try? But they inspired me, too. But it was a lost cause, and I decided that all I really wanted to do was paint, so why fight it? Painting isn't something I took up as a means of escape from dishes and diapers. The urge to paint was there before any frustration with housework. A serious artist paints because he has to; it's an inborn drive."[16]

An article in The Buffalo Evening News (November 30, 1946) reported that when she got married four months previously she had planned to give up painting if it interfered with her housework. "She is, however, pleased to discover that she can manage both and in addition to having dinner ready when her husband returns from work she frequently greets him with a new watercolor."[17]

Peggy Richter Haug described her childhood like this, "We grew up going out to the countryside often. My mom would pile us kids in the car and she would then search for an old or deserted house or barn. We would climb all over and explore while she would paint."[14] She also described her mother as devoted to home and children; she remembers her mother making dinner for the family every evening.

Although Burchfield favored en plein air painting, she also had a studio for convenience and unfavorable weather. For many years during her marriage, Richter painted in her bedroom. Eventually, her husband contracted to have an artist studio built for Richter above the garage.

Much of her last few years are known through an interview with Peggy Haug, Burchfield Richter's daughter, taken on July 15, 2016 by Laurie Kaiser a writer from Buffalo.

Burchfield was very close to her father and following her father's death in 1967 suffered greatly. "she was very emotionally attached to her father... it was difficult for her when he died."[14]

Throughout most of her lifetime Richter suffered from depression. She saw psychiatrists for her depression and they prescribed tranquilizers and sleeping pills, which often left her in a fog instead of feeling better. While her depression was very difficult for her and her family, Haug describes her as someone who embraced the good and the bad. "From her, we got the ability to live fully, she grabbed hold of life and was fun-loving. Women in those days didn't have the means to express themselves. They didn't know how. But she did."[14]

Burchfield's mental state deteriorated in the mid-1970s after her children had left home. On April 10, 1977, aged 52, she committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates.[14]