The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Conversation in Autumn

Conversation in Autumn

1732
(Chinese, 1682–c. 1765)
Overall: 218.5 x 71.7 cm (86 x 28 1/4 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

A barren tree on the lower left has a hole in its lower trunk through which is visible a young servant carrying food to the gentlemen in the cottage.

Description

Two figures sit conversing in a thatched cottage. This painting illustrates two poetic lines:

My guest came to sit beyond the dust,
In a narrow room, we talked about the autumnal sounds of autumn.

Hua Yan presented an intimate world—simple and rustic—amid a landscape. The cool wilderness depicted in this work conveys an aloofness that may reveal the inner world of a scholar-artist who failed the civil service examination but preserved a sense of pride and endurance in his humble surroundings.
  • Ye Tingguan 葉廷琯 [b. 1791]
    Sun Zutong 孫祖同 [1894–1937]
    Yu Zituo 虞子垞 [early 20th century]
    ?-1954
    (Walter Hochstadter [1914–2007], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1954-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Deng, Qiumei 鄧秋枚. Shen zhou da guan 神州大觀. Shanghai: Shen zhou guo guang she, 1912. Reproduced: pl. (18)
    Kawai, Senro 河井荃廬, editor. Shina nanga taisei 支那南畫大成. Tōkyō: Kōbunsha, 1935. Mentioned and Reproduced: X, pl. 137
    Pan, Zunqi 潘遵祈. Xu jing zhai suo cang ming hua ji 虛靜齋所藏名畫集. Shanghai: Shang wu yin shu guan, Minguo 24 [1935]. Reproduced: pl. 12
    Sirén, Osvald. A History of Later Chinese Painting. London: The Medici Society, 1938. Mentioned: II, Lists, 253
    Ōmura, Seigai 大村西崖 and Ōmura Kidō 大村文夫. Chūgoku meigashū. 8 [中国名画集. 第8冊 = Collection of famous Chinese paintings]. Tōkyō: Ryūbunshokyoku, 1945. VIII, pl. 13
    Lee, Sherman E. Chinese Landscape Painting. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1954. Mentioned: p. 157, cat. no. 110; Reproduced: p. 134 archive.org
    Sirén, Osvald. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. New York: Ronald Press, 1956. Mentioned: VII, Lists, 343
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 880 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. Chinese Landscape Painting. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962. Mentioned: p. 126, no. 101
    Masters of Landscape: East and West. Utica, NY: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 1963. Mentioned: cat. no. 16
    Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 455, fig. 601
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 269 archive.org
    Cahill, James, and Virginia Field. Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting. [New York]: Asia Society; distributed by Abrams, 1967. cat. no. 33
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 269 archive.org
    Cahill, James. "Chūgoku kaiga niokeru kisō to gensō" [Fantastics and eccentrics in Chinese painting] (part II). Kokka (1975): no. 979, pp. 2-21.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 358 archive.org
    Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 265, p. 361
    Barnhart, Richard M. The Jade studio: masterpieces of Ming and Qing painting and calligraphy from the Wong Nan-pʻing collection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Art Gallery, 1994. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 61, p. 195
    Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art, 5th Edition. London: Laurence King, 1999. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 16.5, p. 696
    Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art, 7th Edition. London: Laurence King, 2005. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 690, fig. 16.5
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 440-446
  • Ji Yunfei: Last Days of Village Wen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-July 31, 2016).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 29, 2003-March 15, 2004).
    Mountains, Rocks, and Water: Landscape Painting in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-December 13, 1987).
    Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982); The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (December 3, 1982-February 28, 1983).
    Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (March 23-May 28, 1967); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (June 20-August 13, 1967); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (September 15-November 5, 1967).
    Fantastics and Eccentrics. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY, (March 23-May 28, 1967); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA (June 20-August 13, 1967); and M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA (September 15-November 5, 1967).
    Master of Landscape: East and West. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY (organizer) (September 15-October 13, 1963); Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (November 1-December 1, 1963).
    Masters of Landscape. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY (September 15-October 13, 1963); The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (November 1-December 1, 1963).
    Chinese Landscape Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5-December 26, 1954).
    Chinese Landscape Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5-December 26, 1954).
  • {{cite web|title=Conversation in Autumn|url=false|author=Hua Yan|year=1732|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1954.263