Rock and Waves

Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The many streams and rivers in the mountains around Kyoto surely were the inspiration for Ōkyo's prolific studies of rocks and water, in which he seeks to capture the peak moment of their incessant movement. This screen is one of the smaller paintings Ōkyo made of the subject, but it is a concise statement of the essential features of the wave as it lingered in his mind for so many years. Great commotion and energy converge on the obstinate stone in the center of the composition, the waves hurling themselves against it only to be thrown into the air. Ōkyo has skillfully taken advantage of the congruence between his subject and his ink-splash technique.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art