The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Gazing at a Waterfall

Gazing at a Waterfall

early 1500s
(Japanese, d. 1525)
Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)
Album leaf mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper
Painting: 29 x 30.1 cm (11 7/16 x 11 7/8 in.); Mounted with knobs: 113 x 47.6 cm (44 1/2 x 18 3/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1977.30
Location: 235A Japanese

Did You Know?

The setting of this painting is historical China, as evidenced by the clothing and hairstyles of the two people appreciating the waterfall.

Description

Chinese poet Li Bai’s (701–762) poem “Gazing at a Waterfall on Mount Lu” is about experiencing the vastness of the galaxy in relationship to one’s own being. Japanese Zen monk-poet Keijo Shūrin (1440–1518) identified Li’s poem as the inspiration for Japanese painter Geiami’s (1431–1485) work Gazing at a Waterfall, in the collection of the Nezu Museum, which features sharp brushstrokes and bright colors. In contrast, this album leaf’s painter, Geiami’s son Sōami, took a more delicate approach to the theme. The waterfall and the pair watching it frame the mist rising from the water at the center of the image.
  • ?–1977
    (Kinzen Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1977–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E., Michael R. Cunningham, and Ursula Korneitchouk. One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650): From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue. New York: Japan Society, 1981. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 56-57, no. 28
    Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華: 特别展: クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから= Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Nara, Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduce: p. 109, cat. no. 73
    Cunningham, Michael R., Shinʼichi Miyajima, and Yūji Yamashita. Ink Paintings and Ash-Glazed Ceramics: Medieval Calligraphy, Painting, and Ceramic Art from Japan and Korea. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Reproduced: fig. 2, p. 4
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Sŏn Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 40-41, no. 19
    Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 19
  • To the River's South in Japanese Painting (Japanese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 2023-June 2, 2024).
    The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).
    Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).
    Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
    Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).
  • {{cite web|title=Gazing at a Waterfall|url=false|author=Sōami|year=early 1500s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.30