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About the Artwork
Chinese poet Li Bai’s (701–762) poem “Gazing at a Waterfall on Mount Lu” is about experiencing the vastness of the galaxy in relationship to one’s own being. Japanese Zen monk-poet Keijo Shūrin (1440–1518) identified Li’s poem as the inspiration for Japanese painter Geiami’s (1431–1485) work Gazing at a Waterfall, in the collection of the Nezu Museum, which features sharp brushstrokes and bright colors. In contrast, this album leaf’s painter, Geiami’s son Sōami, took a more delicate approach to the theme. The waterfall and the pair watching it frame the mist rising from the water at the center of the image.
Provenance
?–1977: (Kinzen Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1977–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978). Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). 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). The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011). To the River's South in Japanese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 2023-June 2, 2024).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Sōami (Japanese, d. 1525)
- Date
- early 1500s
- Medium
- Album leaf mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper
- Dimensions
- Painting: 29 x 30.1 cm (11 7/16 x 11 7/8 in.); Mounted with knobs: 113 x 47.6 cm (44 1/2 x 18 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Accession no.
- 1977.30
More by Sōami in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009547
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