Gust of Wind on the Poplars (c. 1873–80): Art, History and Details

Gust of Wind on the Poplars (c. 1873–80) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Auguste Allongé (French, 1833–1898).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

At a time when most landscape artists favored dramatic Italian views, Auguste Allongé depicted the terrain of his native France and especially the forest of Fontainebleau, outside Paris. This sheet shows poplar trees along a river, bending slightly with the suggestion of a breeze. Allongé worked traditionally with charcoal, drawing on paper, but also removed the material throughout using a stump to create highlights and dramatic tonal variation.

Object facts

• Title: Gust of Wind on the Poplars
• Date: c. 1873–80
• Creator attribution: Auguste Allongé (French, 1833–1898)
• Culture: France
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: charcoal on wove paper
• Dimensions: Matted: 47.5 x 75.9 cm (18 11/16 x 29 7/8 in.); Sheet: 33 x 62.2 cm (13 x 24 1/2 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2023.112

A detail from the museum

Auguste Allongé was known for the complex charcoal techniques used in this drawing, and in fact derived a large part of his fame from Le Fusain, a manual for drawing with charcoal published in 1873 and translated into several languages over the following decade.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.