Demon Intoning the Name of the Buddha

Description

Among the subjects of souvenir paintings made since the 1600s in Ōtsu, a travel hub near Kyoto in western Japan, was a demon in monk’s robes reciting the name of the Buddha Amida to the rhythm of his gong. Ōtsu paintings largely disappeared with the advent of rail travel in the late 1800s, as people no longer stopped in the area. In this work, Kyoto-based artist Suzuki Shōnen reimagined the demon for the modern era—the simple figure from the Ōtsu painting is transformed into a realistic one accompanied by a calligraphic meditation on its nature.

Provenance

(David Newman, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1991); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1991–)

Demon Intoning the Name of the Buddha

Suzuki Shōnen

late 1800s–early 1900s

Accession Number

1991.77

Medium

hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Dimensions

Overall: 194.4 x 61 cm (76 9/16 x 24 in.); Painting only: 106 x 42 cm (41 3/4 x 16 9/16 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Kelvin Smith Fund