id: 149097 accession number: 1977.30 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.30 updated: 2022-05-10 09:00:53.176000 Gazing at a Waterfall, early 1500s. Sōami (Japanese, d. 1525). Hanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper; image: 29 x 30.1 cm (11 7/16 x 11 7/8 in.); overall: 113 x 47.6 cm (44 1/2 x 18 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1977.30 title: Gazing at a Waterfall title in original language: 望瀑布図 series: series in original language: creation date: early 1500s creation date earliest: 1500 creation date latest: 1525 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392-1573) technique: hanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper department: Japanese Art collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Sōami (Japanese, d. 1525) - artist --- measurements: Image: 29 x 30.1 cm (11 7/16 x 11 7/8 in.); Overall: 113 x 47.6 cm (44 1/2 x 18 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1977 opening date: 1977-12-28T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978). title: Visions of Landscape: East and West opening date: 1982-02-17T05:00:00 Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). title: Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1998-02-21T00:00:00 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). title: The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art opening date: 2011-03-27T00:00:00 The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Kinzen Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1977 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1977– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The setting of this painting is historical China, as evidenced by the clothing and hairstyles of the two men appreciating the waterfall. digital description: The inspiration for this painting came from Chinese prototypes, some based on the famous poem "Gazing at the Waterfall on Mount Lu" by the sixth-century Chinese poet Li Bai. The painter Sōami emulated elements of the styles of works from the Chinese Southern Song dynasty in this album leaf. wall description: The Japanese first appreciated the waterfall as a religious motif in the Kamakura period painting of Nachi waterfall. Later, during the Muromachi period, the literati theme of Gazing at the Waterfall, as inspired by Li Bai’s 6th-century poem, gained popularity among Zen monks who composed Chinese-style poetry called Gozan Bungaku (Five Mountains literature). A Rinzai school monk-poet, Keijo Shurin (1440–1518) identified Li’s poem as the inspiration for Geiami’s 15th-century painting Gazing at Waterfall (Nezu Museum), which features very sharp brushstrokes and bright colors. In contrast, Geiami’s son Soami followed the Chinese Southern Song style more faithfully in this small painting. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS 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. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 56-57, no. 28 url: 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. page number: Mentioned and Reproduce: p. 109, cat. no. 73 url: 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. page number: Reproduced: fig. 2, p. 4 url: Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 19 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.30/1977.30_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.30/1977.30_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.30/1977.30_full.tif