Collection Online as of December 4, 2023

Leaf 1: Gazing at the Waterfall in the Shade of Pines

松陰觀瀑

1962

Part of a set. See all set records

Fu Baoshi 傅抱石

(Chinese, 1904–1965)

China

Fan painting mounted as an album leaf, ink and color on paper

Overall: 21 x 55.5 cm (8 1/4 x 21 7/8 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 2008.13.1

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Themes like gazing at waterfalls evoke the literati ideal of man in harmony with nature.

Description

This set of fan paintings expresses the artist’s personal life and differs from the state-commissioned works Fu painted to fulfill his social duty. Here, several of the paintings have dedicatory inscriptions to Fu’s wife, Luo Shihui, and his eldest daughter, Yishan. Not only do these inscriptions offer glimpses into the artist’s private life, they also reveal acutely felt emotions, especially the struggle of a loving father deeply troubled by a daughter’s illness.

Inscriptions

Inscription

The artist’s first inscription: My elder daughter, Yishan 益珊, has been staying at the Lake Tai Rehabilitation Center for about two and a half months. We haven’t seen each other for more than two months. Today I am suddenly thinking of her. I am not a hero and can’t be unaffected by human emotions, let alone my approaching old age! This work is painted to dispel my low spirits. Recorded by Fu Baoshi on the first day of the fifth lunar month, the renyin year [1962], in Nanjing.

Inscription

The artist’s second inscription: Today I sent Xiaoxiao [Fu Yishan 傅益珊] to the hospital. She is beginning to recover. After returning from the Xiling Gorge, as I picked up this painting again, I thought more about the passage of time. So I added the twisted roots and gnarled branches of the green pines, giving them a posture of endurance. Recorded on the twentieth day of the leap fourth month in the guimao year [1963] by Baoshi.

Provenance

1962-?

Fu Baoshi's family collection, Nanjing, China

?-2008

(Han Mo Xuan Co., Ltd., Hong Kong, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

2008-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Chung, Anita, Julia Frances Andrews, Kuiyi Shen, Tamaki Maeda, and Aida Yuen Wong. Chinese art in an age of revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904-1965). Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 61, pp. 184-196

Chung, Anita. "Re-emergence: New Chinese Galleries and Art Acquisitions of The Cleveland Museum of Art." Orientations vol 44 no. 8 (November/December 2013): 64-75. Reproduced: p. 71. fig. 7

Exhibition history

The Art of Fu Baoshi (1904 - 1965). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 16, 2011-January 8, 2012); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (co-organizer) (January 30-April 29, 2012).