“Those who seek nothing beyond the obvious if asked to portray American life would run to the ice cream parlors, automobiles, theaters, baseball games, factories, churches, homes — the portrait would be superficial —life is far more subtle —the great artist looks for the universal in whatever place he is put: narrow nationalism seeks to exalt national themes to universal importances, universalism seeks for the universal in national life, & incidentally achieves what the other fails in.”
Charles E. Burchfield, ca. 1919