The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Gathering of Otsu-e Subjects

Gathering of Otsu-e Subjects

late 1800s
(Japanese, 1807–1891)
Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
Eight-panel folding screen; ink and color on hemp
Image: 101 x 396 cm (39 3/4 x 155 7/8 in.); Overall: 170 x 336 cm (66 15/16 x 132 5/16 in.); Closed: 170 x 11.7 x 61.6 cm (66 15/16 x 4 5/8 x 24 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1982.9
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Shibata Zeshin was not only famous in the realm of painting but also in the world of lacquer design.

Description

This lively scene captures a gathering of stock figures from Otsu-e, or "Otsu paintings." Otsu-e were folk paintings made as souvenirs for travelers passing through the station of Otsu along the Tokaido, the route stretching from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto. Parodies of standard ukiyo-e compositions featuring Otsu-e subjects were popular in woodblock prints of the 19th century. Shibata Zeshin, an artist whose career spanned the transition from the Edo period (1615–1868) to the Meiji period (1868–1912), was fond of depicting urban culture and the pastimes of commoners, aware that they were slipping away in the face of Japan’s modernization. This composition would have appealed to the witty sensibilities of city denizens.
  • ?–1982
    (Marion Hammer, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1982–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (January 1983): 3–55. Reproduced: pp. 46-47, no. 92; Mentioned: p. 53, no. 92 www.jstor.org
    Cunningham, Michael R. “Byōbu: The Art of the Japanese Screen.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 7 (September 1984): 223–232. Reproduced: p. 231, fig. 9; Mentioned: pp. 230–231 www.jstor.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. 148, cat. no. 100
    Cunningham, Michael R. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: pp. 74–75, cat. no. 34
    Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 112
  • Japanese Art Rotation (Gallery 236 and 237). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 21, 2014-January 13, 2015).
    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).
    Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984).
    The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).
  • {{cite web|title=Gathering of Otsu-e Subjects|url=false|author=Shibata Zeshin|year=late 1800s|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.9