Calligraphy and Painting Party, by Kawanabe Kyōsai, 1880
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Calligraphy and Painting Party

Kawanabe Kyōsai (Japanese, 1831–1889)

and Others (Japanese)

1880

Medium
hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
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.)
Culture
Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
Credit line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

In this collaborative painting, artists create works in response to patrons’ requests. Kawanabe Kyōsai painted the figures and outlines of the screens and scrolls, and 10 bunjin completed them. Each calligraphy and painting has a signature. Physician and calligrapher Nakane Hanrei (中根半嶺) (1831–1914) wrote “longevity” (壽) with an enormous ink-filled brush. Painter Fukushima Ryūho (福島柳圃) (1820–1889) did the plum on the folding screen, while Matsuoka Kansui (松岡環翠) (1818–1887) did the lotus; the two seem to be standing nearby, pointing others toward their accomplishment.