Waterfall

ca. 1940
Not on view
Hashimoto Kansetsu, the noted painter and calligrapher, has boldly inscribed a large character reading “waterfall” (taki 瀧). To the left he quotes a line from a poem in Chinese by the journalist-poet Narushima Ryūhoku (1837–1884), who composed it during a visit to America in 1873. After viewing Niagara Falls for the first time, he wrote:

The waterfall—
A ten-thousand-foot curtain of pearls
unfurls, glistening in the moonlight.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 本関雪筆 「瀧 萬丈珠簾捲月明」
  • Title: Waterfall
  • Artist: Hashimoto Kansetsu (Japanese, 1883–1945)
  • Period: Shōwa period (1926–1989)
  • Date: ca. 1940
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 16 15/16 × 24 3/16 in. (43 × 61.5 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 56 11/16 × 33 1/4 in. (144 × 84.5 cm)
  • Classification: Calligraphy
  • Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2019
  • Object Number: 2019.420.40
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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