Collection Online as of May 16, 2022

Painting Party

1880

Kawanabe Kyōsai 河鍋暁斎

(Japanese, 1831-1889)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Painting only: 139 x 69 cm (54 3/4 x 27 3/16 in.); Including mounting: 221 x 97.5 cm (87 x 38 3/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1983.88

Location

not on view

Description

This lively painting depicts shogakai, a gathering during which calligraphers and painters created artwork in response to their patrons’ requests. Such calligraphy and painting parties were a popular topic to render in the early Meiji period. This work conveys the cheerful atmosphere of the gathering. Here, each tiny painting and calligraphy was made by an individual artist with his own seal and signature.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Artist's signature and seal at lower left.

Provenance

?–1983

(David Newman, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1983–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Graham, Patricia J. "Lifestyles of Scholar-Painters in Edo Japan." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 7 (1990): 262-83. Reproduced: cover, p. 271; Mentioned: p. 270-72 www.jstor.org

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. 117

Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Reproduced: cat. no. 9, pp. 22-23

Exhibition history

Later Japanese Art Gallery Rotation (Gallery 113). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 20-May 6, 2003).

Later Japanese Art Gallery Rotation (Gallery 113). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (August 26-December 2, 2003).

The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).

Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).

Scholar's Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 26-December 31, 1989).

The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).