The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Square, two-panel folding screen depicting a gathering of people with lights skin tones seated so close together in the lower half that they cover the gold ground. They wear brown, green, red, orange, and blue robes that completely envelop their bodies. Most have black hair, some letting it fall down their back, others with it in hairstyles sticking up from their heads. Each person appears to be looking in a different direction.

Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals

mid 1700s

attributed to Tatebayashi Kagei

(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

Did You Know?

The green surface edged with stripes at the upper left of the painting represents tatami 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).
  • ?–1960
    (Victor L. Hauge [1919–2013], Falls Church, VA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1960–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • 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
    Walter, Sheri. "Exhibitions in 2009." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 49, no. 1 (January 2009): 3–5. Reproduced: p. 5 archive.org
    McKelway, Matthew P. Silver Wind: The Arts of Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828). New York: Japan Society, 2012. Reproduced: cat. no. 11, pp. 74–76
  • Rinpa (琳派). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 23-October 3, 2021).
    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).
    Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001).
    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).
    Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).
    Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984).
    Reflections of Reality in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-May 1, 1983).
    Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977).
    Masterpieces of Japanese Art. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas (October 4-November 30, 1969).
    Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
    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).
    Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals|url=false|author=Tatebayashi Kagei|year=mid 1700s|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

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