id: 135180 accession number: 1958.206 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1958.206 updated: 2023-08-25 11:18:38.093000 Chrysanthemums by a Stream, c. 1715–30 or later. Possibly by Ogata Kōrin (Japanese, 1658–1716). Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper; overall: 163.2 x 369.9 cm (64 1/4 x 145 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund 1958.206 title: Chrysanthemums by a Stream title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1715–30 or later creation date earliest: 1715 creation date latest: 1930 current location: creditline: Gift of the Hanna Fund copyright: --- culture: Japan, Edo period (1615-1868) technique: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper department: Japanese Art collection: ASIAN - Folding screen type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ogata Kōrin (Japanese, 1658–1716) - artist --- measurements: Overall: 163.2 x 369.9 cm (64 1/4 x 145 5/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: 蝉川末派隠士　法橋光琳　方祝（朱丸印） translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Japanese Decorative Style opening date: 1961-08-30T04:00:00 Japanese Decorative Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art (August 30-October 15, 1961); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (November 9-December 17, 1961). title: A World of Flowers opening date: 1963-05-02T04:00:00 A World of Flowers. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (organizer) (May 2-June 9, 1963). title: Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections opening date: 1977-03-23T05:00:00 Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977). title: Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen opening date: 1984-08-01T04:00:00 Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984). title: Rimpa Painting opening date: 1989-09-19T04:00:00 Rimpa Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989). title: Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2001-07-15T00:00:00 Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 121). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 13–November 11, 2004). --- PROVENANCE (Yamanaka & Co., sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1958 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1958– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The signature used on these screens can perhaps indicate paintings made in the last year of the artist's life, or works completed by his studio after his death. digital description: These screens recall a painting style so closely identified with Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) that it is called Rinpa, or “Rin School,” after the ideograph “rin” in his name. The highly stylized background accentuates floral groupings that have been groomed so as to appear utterly artificial, like the synthetic arrangements available today. Kōrin's genius derived in large measure from natural phenomena painstakingly observed and then manipulated to create compositions of startling refinement and sparkling isolation. This process may have grown out of Kōrin's early immersion in the family textile business, a medium that encourages such dramatic distillations of form: the stream's gold-crested waves bring to mind traditional kimono robe designs of Kōrin's era. Works with the signature seen on this painting, including a style name, or persona suggested to Kōrin by his brother Kenzan (1663–1743), are sometimes considered to have been produced either in the last year of his life, when he was very ill, or after his death. In both scenarios, the lion’s share of the work would have been done by studio assistants, but little is truly known of his studio practice. Given the regularity of the gold waves on the stream, and the tension in the arrangement of the chrysanthemums, it is also possible that the screens were made in emulation of Kōrin's designs by a later artist. wall description: The two lines of script prominently written on the outermost panel of each of these screens (byōbu) identify the author as Kōrin, one of the most renowned of all Edo period painters. Together with Tawaraya Sōtatsu (died c. 1640) and Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743), Kōrin's younger brother, he represents one of the stalwarts of the Rinpa school of later Japanese painting. While Kōrin enjoyed a privileged childhood in Kyoto, by his late thirties he was struggling on his own as a painter, following the bankruptcy of the family business.

As the signature on these byōbu contain the honorary title Hōkkyō (Bridge of the Buddhist Law), which was given to particularly talented artists in the Edo period, these screens are dated by some scholars after 1701, the year that title was officially introduced. (However, it had been in use much earlier.) Not long after, in 1704, Kōrin left Kyoto to attempt a career in Tokyo. He apparently expected strong backing from the collectors and patrons there but came away in 1709 to settle again in Kyoto. There he not only embarked on individual private commissions but also completed several noteworthy collaborative projects in various media with Kenzan. Especially remarkable were their combined efforts to produce stoneware ceramics with inventive painted designs that became prized utensils among connoisseurs of the tea culture.

These chrysanthemum byōbu typify a painting genre that came to be identified with Kōrin and much less so with Kenzan or their talented follower Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828). Highly stylized backgrounds accentuate floral groupings that have been groomed so as to appear utterly artificial, like the synthetic arrangements available today. Kōrin's genius derives in large measure from natural phenomena painstakingly observed and then manipulated to create compositions of startling refinement and sparkling isolation. This process may have grown out of Kōrin's early immersion in the family textile business, a medium that encourages such dramatic distillations of form: the stream's limpid patterns of gold-crested waves recall many traditional kimono robe designs of the era. Or perhaps Kenzan's influence and his proclivity for producing astringent "arrangements" of perfectly intact flora set against blank or gold-foil backgrounds propelled an anonymous Kōrin follower. Either way, the demand for Kōrin's work and for paintings in the Kōrin style (Rinpa) more so than that of any other school of the period is clear in the history of later Edo era painting.

Chrysanthemums appear alongside streams in early compositions by or attributed to Sōsetsu as well as to Kōrin and his followers in a number of formats other than byōbu: fans and painted designs on gold-foil wrapping papers for incense come to mind. This late summer/autumnal subject apparently became identified with Kōrin's name, his workshop, and later followers, resulting in works such as this pair of byōbu, one of the few brilliant large-scale compositions of the later Rinpa genre in Western collections. As yet, no other paintings currently ascribed to Kōrin have been identified with these inscriptions. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 80–81, cat. no. 80 url: https://archive.org/details/JapaneseDecorativeStyle/page/n95 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 282 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n306 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 282 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n306 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 381 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n401 Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. London : Laurence King, 1999. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 12.95, p. 573 url: Cunningham, Michael R. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: Reproduced: pp. 62–63, cat. no. 28 url: Korin ten: kokuhō "Kakitsubatazu" to Metoroporitan Bijutsukan shozō "Yatsuhashizu" [Irises and Eight bridges: masterpieces by Kōrin from the Nezu Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art = 光琳展 : 国宝「燕子花図」とメトロポリタン美術館所蔵「八橋図」]. Tōkyō: Nezu Bijutsukan, 2012. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 15, fig. 13 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1958.206/1958.206_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1958.206/1958.206_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1958.206/1958.206_full.tif