Collection Online as of August 13, 2022

The Beach at Sumiyoshi from the Tales of Ise

伊勢物語図色紙　住吉浜

c. 1634

Tawaraya Sōtatsu 俵屋宗達

(Japanese, c. 1570-c. 1640)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Poetry sheet mounted as an album leaf; ink, color, and gold on paper

Image: 24.5 x 20.9 cm (9 5/8 x 8 1/4 in.); Overall: 40.6 x 33.2 x 1.6 cm (16 x 13 1/16 x 5/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1951.398

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The red structure at the top of this composition is Sumiyoshi Taisha, the Grand Shrine at Sumiyoshi.

Description

The poem written on the painting comes from The Tales of Ise, a 10th-century poetic narrative of love:

In autumn the wild geese cry
And chrysanthemums are in flower,
Yet how pleasant to dwell
By the sea in spring
On the Beach of Sumiyoshi.

Provenance

Masuda Takashi 益田孝 [1848–1938], Odawara, Japan

?-1951

(Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1951-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 921 archive.org

Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned: p. 63; reproduced: p. 60 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. 282 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. 282 archive.org

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. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 125, cat. no. 82

Admired from afar: masterworks of Japanese painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art [クリーブランド美術館展 : 名画でたどる日本の美 Kurīburando Bijutsukan ten: meiga de tadoru Nihon no bi ]. Tokyo: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 2014. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 38, p. 120

Lippit, Yukio, James T. Ulak, Keiko Nakamachi, Shunroku Okudaira, Ryō Furuta, Takeshi Noguchi, Aya Ōta, and Sōtatsu Tawaraya. Sōtatsu. Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2015. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 19, p. 189

Yvonne Tan, exhibition review of Sotatsu: Making Waves, The Asian Art Newspaper 19, issue 3 (January 2016): 12-13. Reproduced: p. 13

Exhibition history

The World of Miniature Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 20-November 10, 1953).

Japanese Art in America. The Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA (April 19-May 15, 1960).

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

Rimpa. Japan Society Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (September 13-November 13, 1971).

Mountains, Rocks, and Water: Landscape Painting in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2-December 13, 1987).

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).

Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014).

Sotatsu: Making Waves. Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC (organizer) (October 24, 2015-January 31, 2016).