A Pond with a Fisherman along the River Ain

A Pond with a Fisherman along the River Ain

Adolphe Appian

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This quiet scene of a solitary fisherman is one of several large-scale drawings Appian made depicting the landscape surrounding the river Ain, near his native Lyon, in eastern France. Renowned for his skillful and innovative use of charcoal, Appian manipulated the powdery black medium to achieve delicate tones and compelling effects of light. He further scraped and rubbed at the surface of the drawing to render subtle details, from the texture of the tree bark to the shimmering surface of the water.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Pond with a Fisherman along the River AinA Pond with a Fisherman along the River AinA Pond with a Fisherman along the River AinA Pond with a Fisherman along the River AinA Pond with a Fisherman along the River Ain

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.