Gallery
Detail. Occonomie rustique, Carbon de Bois, PI. II, Plate 25, Charcoal II Vol. 1., ca. 1762-77. Source: Charles C. Gillispie, editor, A Diderot Pictoral Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry, Dover, 1993 reprint of 1954 original.
They went forth into the wood,
and cleared them space to dwell in,
and builded them halls such as they loved,
and fell to their old woodland crafts
of charcoal-burning and hunting,
wherein they throve well.
–William Morris, The Roots of the Mountains
Just a piece of coal, the size of a small pocket pencil, held flat between the thumb and forefinger, a sheet of paper, and then "let go."
—F. Hopkinson Smith
Heather Hansen, Charcoal drawing from Emptied Gestures, 2013. Photo courtesy the artist and Bryan Tarnowski.
Imaginechina, Chinese villagers walk through burning charcoal as they participate in the traditional ritual Lianhuo, "fire walking", in Pan'an county, Jinhua city, east China's Zhejiang province. Imaginechina Limited / Alamy Stock Photo.
Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822-1899), Charcoal burners (Les charbonniers), 1880-1890s. Charcoal and white chalk, stumping and lifting, on gray-green wove paper. (unframed): 19 1/2 x 25 5/16 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Daniel and Sophie Thierry in honor of Lee Hendrix, 2016.106, Public Domain, CCO 1.0 Universal.
Trademark registration by L. T. Greenfield for Charcoal Mints brand Pellets for Headache, Heartburn, Flatulence, and Indigestion, 1891. Digital file from original. From Library of Congress, U.S. Patent Office trademarks. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/trmk.1t19957 (accessed June 19, 2025)
FotoHelin, activated charcoal capsule, 2019. FotoHelin / Alamy.
Mike Goldwater, Nampula, Mozambique, May 2010: Delivering charcoal door to door, 2010. Mike Goldwater / Alamy.
Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834-1917), Madame Lisle, ca. 1866-70. Charcoal and pastel with red, black, and white chalk on beige wove paper. (sheet): 8 9/16 x 10 1/4 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1918, 19.51.5
Totoya Hokkei (Japanese, 1780-1850), Lobster on a Piece of Charcoal, Edo period (1615-1868). Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper. 8 3/16 x 7 1/4 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929, JP2219.
Ford Motor Company, Ford Charcoal Briquets and Picnic Kit Display in a Hardware Store, 1938. Gelatin silver print. 7 3/4 x 10 in. From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company, 64.167.833.P.70167.A.
Charcoal burner Eduardo Alfonso, 58. Photograph: Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images.
An antique charcoal iron. Anneke.
MehmetO, a chef grills meat the traditional way in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2018. MehmetO / Alamy.
Japanese, Charcoal Basket, 19th century. Bamboo. 4 x 11 in. (diam.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund, 1925, 25.215.35.
Interior View of the Ward Charcoal Ovens in Nevada. Michael / Adobe Stock.
Charcoal, when it has passed through fire and has been quenched, only begins to assume its active properties; and, when it might be supposed to have been reduced to annihilation, it is then that it has its greatest energies.
An element this, of immense, of boundless power, and, as to which, it is a matter of doubt whether it does not create even more than it destroys!
—Pliny the Elder
Lararium in the shape of a Corinthian temple, from the House of the Black Hall, Ist century AD. 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in.
Traumrune, Lascaux IV, Montignac, Dordogne, France, 2017. The photograph shows the Atelier. © Traumrune / Wikimedia Commons/cc BY-SA 3.0
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887-1986), No. 8 - Special (Drawing No. 8), 1916. (sheet: (irregular)): 24 1/2 X 18 7/8in. (62.2 X 47.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Altschul Purchase Fund, 85.52. © Georgia O'Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital image © Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala/ Art Resource, NY.
I began with charcoal and paper and decided not to use any color until it was impossible to do what I wanted to do in black and white. I believe it was June before I needed blue.
–Georgia O’Keefe
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (English, 1828-1882), Study of a Young Woman [Mrs. Eaton], ca. 1863-1865. Black chalk and charcoal, with stumping on paper. 18 5/16 x 12 3/8 in. Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University; Museum Purchase Fund, 1970.390.
Richard Purcell (active 1746-1766), Night. Boy blowing Charcoal, undated, Mezzotint on moderately thick, moderately textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund, B1970.3.1115.
A colorist makes his presence known even in a simple charcoal drawing.
–Henri Matisse
Robert Capa (American, b. Hungary 1913-1954), Henri Matisse draveing with bamboo pole tipped with charcoal in his studio, Nice, France, 1949. Photo-negative-black & white. The Robert Capa and Cornell Capa Archive, Gift of Cornell and Edith Capa, 2010. Accession No. CAR1950.7.6. Courtesy International Center of Photography / Magnum Photos.
Duncan Astbury, burnt bark, 2015. Duncan Astbury / Alamy.
Love is a fire that burns and sparkles,
In men as nat’rally as in charcoals,
Which sooty chymists stop in holes,
When out of wood they extract coals.
–Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part II (1664)
J. Le Blond (engraver, French, ca. circa 1635-1709), Jean Robert, a charcoal-burner. Etching with engraving. Welcome Collection. Source: Welcome Collection.
Mactavish & Co. Ltd. (Publisher). Charcoal stoves for warming hands and feet (winter time), Shanghai, ca. 1922. Rotogravures. [9 x 14 cm]. The New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection.
