Storms, Cyclones and Wind in Art and Storytelling

The wind blew as ’twad blawn its last;
The rattling showers rose on the blast;
The speedy gleams the darkness swallow’d;
Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellow’d:
That night, a child might understand,
The Deil had business on his hand.

Robert Burns

“STORM” BY SARAH WEATHERALL

"Windy Witch was gone" an illustration from the short story "Windy Witch" written by Helen Broadbent, included in the book "Blackie's Children's Annual 1912"
“Windy Witch was gone” an illustration from the short story “Windy Witch” written by Helen Broadbent, included in the book “Blackie’s Children’s Annual 1912”
Martin Lewis (1881 – 1962) 1919 Passing Storm
A Children’s Garland of Songs gathered from A Child’s Garden of Verses by RL Stevenson and set to music by C. Villiers Stanford 1892 Windy Nights
Great Grandmother Goose by Helen Cooper, illustrated by Krystyna Turska, Hamish Hamilton, London 1978
Great Grandmother Goose by Helen Cooper, illustrated by Krystyna Turska, Hamish Hamilton, London 1978
Southwind, Johann Sadeler (I), after Maerten de Vos, 1560 – 1600
Vladimir F. Alekseev (1944-2010) Bridge on a windy day

In some parts of the world, wind is associated with a certain time of year. In parts of America, it is November.

November illustration by Eulalie Minfred Banks (1895-1999), for The Garden Year in The Bumper Book, 1946, edited by Watty Piper, published in New York by The Platt and Munk Co. Inc
November illustration by Eulalie Minfred Banks (1895-1999), for The Garden Year in The Bumper Book, 1946, edited by Watty Piper, published in New York by The Platt and Munk Co. Inc
Easy Answers to Hard Questions pictures by Susan Perl text by Susanne Kirtland (1968) what makes thunder and lightning
Rie Cramer (Dutch, 1887-1977)
Rie Cramer (Dutch, 1887-1977)

The heroine of this beautifully illustrated story feels her anger like a storm in a dark forest. It sweeps her away, and she thunders and howls. She pours down her emotions like sheets of rain; rage surges like a wind whipping angry waves. Her anger takes her on a wild ride. Appropriate for a wide variety of ages, this book illustrates many aspects of anger that are often hard to articulate – how overwhelming it is, how isolating, even scary. But it also shows anger to be a source of power and an agent for change.

Teckentrup’s impactful, boldly colored paintings skillfully evoke the way intense anger can take us on an emotional journey, one that can be both exhausting and affirming. This beautiful tribute to one girl’s experience of anger offers readers the opportunity to make sense of, and talk about their own feelings of rage in a time when that kind of understanding is more important than ever.

Sunshine by Ludwig Bemelmans 1950
Jean-Jacques Sempé
Jean-Jacques Sempé
John Philip Falter (1910-1982) Windy City 1946
John Philip Falter (1910-1982) Windy City 1946
Carl Olof Petersen (1880-1939), Illustration pour “Jugend Magazine”, 1920. Swedish illustrator, painter and woodcut artist wind
Carl Olof Petersen (1880-1939), Illustration pour “Jugend Magazine”, 1920. Swedish illustrator, painter and woodcut artist
Salvador Dali Paysage de Port Lligat, avant la tempête – Landscape of Port Lligat, before the storm (1956) Paysage de Port Lligat, avant la tempête – Landscape of Port Lligat, before the storm (1956)
Hurricane printed on page 40 of the February 10, 1941 issue of LIFE magazine
Hurricane printed on page 40 of the February 10, 1941 issue of LIFE magazine
Shinohara Katsuyuki, poster design for Matasaburo of the Wind, 1974
Shinohara Katsuyuki, poster design for Matasaburo of the Wind, 1974
‘The Town.’ (c1880s) August Strindberg
The Longest Storm by Dan Yaccarino

A heartwarming family story that will resonate for everyone who’s experienced the Covid-19 quarantine — or other kinds of hardship and loss.

No one knew where the strange storm came from, or why it lasted so long. The family at the center of this timely story has to hunker down together, with no going outside – and that’s hard when there’s absolutely nothing to do, and everyone’s getting on everyone else’s nerves.

This classic in the making will lift hearts with its optimistic vision of a family figuring out how to love and support one another — even when their everyday world is shrunk beyond recognition.

Illustration for the French magazine ′La Vie Parisienne′ by Chéri Hérouard (1881-1961) wind lifting skirt
Illustration for the French magazine ′La Vie Parisienne′ by Chéri Hérouard (1881-1961)
The March Wind - written by Inez Rice, illustrated by Vladimir Bobri (1957)
The March Wind – written by Inez Rice, illustrated by Vladimir Bobri (1957)
Stuart Davis (1892 - 1964) City Snow Scene , 1911
Stuart Davis (1892 – 1964) City Snow Scene , 1911
Buick Straight-8 engine was introduced 1931, wind
Buick Straight-8 engine was introduced 1931
And The Wind Picked up Lilly Etta, Story Hour Readers by Ida Coe and Alice Christie,1914, illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright umbrella
And The Wind Picked up Lilly Etta, Story Hour Readers by Ida Coe and Alice Christie,1914, illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright
Little Brown Bear and the March Wind by Elizabeth Upham, illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell. 1955
Little Brown Bear and the March Wind by Elizabeth Upham, illustrated by Marjorie Hartwell. 1955
Boy and Girl Running Hand-in-Hand – Jessie Willcox Smith Illustration 1919 from At The Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald
Boy and Girl Running Hand-in-Hand – Jessie Willcox Smith Illustration 1919 from At The Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald
Illustration by Arthur Hughes The Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald Originally published in 1871
1935 February, cover by Antonio Petruccelli wind
1935 February, cover by Antonio Petruccelli wind
Art by Ethel Franklin Betts Bains 1916 wind garden
Art by Ethel Franklin Betts Bains 1916
Ellen Raskin, Moose, Goose and Little Nobody, 1974 wind
Ellen Raskin, Moose, Goose and Little Nobody, 1974
Winter and Windy Weather, Florence Susan Harrison, British (1877-1955), Blackie's Childrens' Annual, 1922
Winter and Windy Weather, Florence Susan Harrison, British (1877-1955), Blackie’s Childrens’ Annual, 1922
Illustration by Bettina Baldassarri
Illustration by Bettina Baldassarri
A Windy Day by Lorna Steele
Frederic Edwin Church (1826 – 1900) Passing Storm 1849
Alexei Bogoliubov (Russian, 1824 - 1896) A Storm lighthouse
Alexei Bogoliubov (Russian, 1824 – 1896) A Storm lighthouse
'A Stormy Day' from Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, illustrated by world-renowned horse painter T S La Fontaine
‘A Stormy Day’ from Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, illustrated by world-renowned horse painter T S La Fontaine
Martin Lewis (1881 - 1962) 1934 print Snowstorm, Danbury, Connecticut
Martin Lewis (1881 – 1962) 1934 print Snowstorm, Danbury, Connecticut
Martin Lewis (1881 - 1962) 1930 illustration Break in the Thunderstorm
Martin Lewis (1881 – 1962) 1930 illustration Break in the Thunderstorm
Arthur Rackham horses dust storm
Arthur Rackham
Dugald Stewart Walker illustrator, Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) writer, ‘Rainbow gold; poems old and new selected for boys and girls’ 1922-6
Erik Henningsen (Danish,1855 - 1930)
Erik Henningsen (Danish,1855 – 1930)
Henry Herbert La Thangue – In the Orchards, Haylands, Graffham
The Russian Story Book Retold by Richard Wilson, Containing Tales from the song-cycles of Kiev and Novgorod and other early sources. Illustrations by Frank Cheyne Papé
House & Gardenmagazine Oct 1916 Girl Sweeping Leaves by The Reeses
The Girl I Left Behind Me c 1872 Eastmen Johnson
The Girl I Left Behind Me c 1872 Eastmen Johnson
Girl in the East Wind with Ravens Passing the Moon by Frances MacDonald (1873-1921)
Anton Franciscus Pieck (1895 - 1987) 1942 The King Of The Forest Illustration for Grimm's Fairy Tales wind
Anton Franciscus Pieck (1895 – 1987) 1942 The King Of The Forest Illustration for Grimm’s Fairy Tales
ERDE, UNSER SCHÖNER STERN (1971) Štěpán Zavřel
ERDE, UNSER SCHÖNER STERN (1971) Štěpán Zavřel
Storm Over Our Town, Malvern’, Laura Knight, oil on canvas, 1877 – 1970
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633) by Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669). Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee
Loch Lomond by Gustave Doré
Alex Colville Family and Rainstorm, 1955
Isaac Ilyich Levitan (Russian painter) 1860-1900 Before the Storm, 1890
‘Stormy Morning, Mid-Wales’, Richard Ernst Eurich, oil on canvas, 1969
TABLE OF CONTENTS HEAVY WEATHER: TEMPESTUOUS TALES OF STRANGER CLIMES
History of a Six Weeks' Tour (extract) by Mary Shelley
The Lightning-Rod Man by Herman Melville
A Descent into the Maelstrom by Edgar Allan Poe
The Great Snow by Richard Jefferies
The Horror-Horn by E.F. Benson
May Day Eve by Algernon Blackwood
August Heat by W.F. Harvey
A Mild Attack of Locusts by Doris Lessing
Through the Vortex of a Cyclone by William Hope Hodgson
The Wind-Gnome by Jonas Lie
Summer Snow Storm by Adam Chase
The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes by Margaret St. Clair
Monsoons of Death by Gerald Vance
The Purple Cloud (extract) by M.P. Shiel
The Birds by Daphne du Maurier
The Scream In The Storm

Header painting: The Course of Empire Destruction, by American painter Thomas Cole (1836). New-York Historical Society

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