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The Chinese Poet Li Bai Viewing a Waterfall, from the series A True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets
The Chinese Poet Li Bai Viewing a Waterfall, from the series A True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets

The Chinese Poet Li Bai Viewing a Waterfall, from the series A True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets

Artist/Maker (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Publisher
Date1833–34
MediumColor woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
DimensionsVertical nagaōban; overall: 20 × 9 3/16 in. (50.8 × 23.3 cm)
Credit LineMary A. Ainsworth Bequest
PortfolioA True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets (Shika shashinkyo)
Object number1950.742
Status
Not on view
More Information
A man stands precariously on a cliffside, looking intently at the plunging waterfall across the expanse. Two small boys, almost invisible, cling to him, not out of fear for their own safety but for his. The man is the legendary Chinese poet Lǐ Bái 李白 (701–762), who often was notoriously intoxicated. This print illustrates his famous poem Viewing the Waterfall at Mount Lu:

Sunlight streaming on Incense Stone
kindles violet smoke;
far off I watch the waterfall plunge to the long river,
flying waters descending straight three thousand feet,
til I think the Milky Way has tumbled from the ninth height of Heaven

—Translated by Burton Watson
Exhibition History
Masterpieces of Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (December 11, 1984 - January 27, 1985 )
Japanese Prints from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (May 20, 1986 - July 20, 1986 )
Poetic Form: Selections from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (May 25, 1993 - July 18, 1993 )
Transformations: Chinese Themes and Images in Japanese Woodblock Prints
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (March 12, 1996 - May 27, 1996 )
A Life in Prints: Mary A. Ainsworth and the Floating World
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 3, 2015 - June 7, 2015 )
Ukiyo-e Prints from the Mary Ainsworth Collection
  • Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan (April 13, 2019 - May 25, 2019 )
  • Shizuoka City Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan (June 8, 2019 - July 28, 2019 )
  • Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Osaka, Japan (August 10, 2019 - September 29, 2019 )
Ukiyo-e Prints from the Mary Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 14, 2020 - December 6, 2020 )
Collections
  • Asian
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.
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