The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 2, 2022

Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals

三十六歌仙図屏風

mid 1700s

attributed to Tatebayashi Kagei 立林何帠

(Japanese, active mid-1700s)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Two-fold screen; ink, color, and gold on paper

Image: 170 x 182.8 cm (66 15/16 x 71 15/16 in.); Overall: 174.4 x 187.2 cm (68 11/16 x 73 11/16 in.); Closed: 94 x 4 cm (37 x 1 9/16 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1960.183

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The green surface edged with stripes at the upper left of the painting represents<em> tatami </em>matting with a silk border.

Description

Fujiwara no Kintō (996–1075), a Japanese courtier, scholar, and poet, compiled select examples by the most celebrated composers of 31-syllable poems (waka) from the 600s to the 1000s. Painters soon made these “thirty-six poetic immortals” a favorite subject, traditionally presenting the poets in sequential, idealized portraits paired with their poems. In this interpretation, a chronologically impossible gathering of these great talents is in progress. The screen’s composition follows one devised by design virtuoso Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716).

Citations
Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned: p. 86, p. 91; reproduced: p. 91; cat. no. 86 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 283 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 283 archive.org
Masterpieces of Japanese Art; [Catalogue of the Exhibition] October 4 Through November 30, 1969, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1969. Reproduced: pl. 73
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 382 archive.org
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. Reproduced: p. 129, cat. no. 85
Cunningham, Michael R. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: pp. 46–47
McKelway, Matthew P. Silver Wind: The Arts of Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828). New York: Japan Society, 2012. Reproduced: cat. no. 11, pp. 74–76
Exhibition history

Masterpieces of Japanese Art. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas (October 4-November 30, 1969).

Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

Japanese Decorative Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art (August 30-October 15, 1961).

Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art (September 11-October 10, 1965).

Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977).

Reflections of Reality in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-May 1, 1983).

Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984).

Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).

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).

Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001).

Silver Wind: The Art of Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828) and His Circle. Japan Society Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (September 28, 2012-January 6, 2013).

Rinpa (琳派) (Japanese gallery rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 23-October 3, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.183