Leaf & Spine

Cover art · mountains

Streams and Mountains

Xu Ben (Chinese, 1335–1380), 1372.

Streams and Mountains
Streams and Mountains — Cleveland Museum of Art

Using it on a cover

The print file prints up to 6.6 x 11.3 in at 300 ppi — enough for a full 6 x 9 in front cover. Taller than a 6 x 9 cover: crop about 12% of the height.

About the work

Like many literati of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, Xu Ben was entangled with the perils of dynastic change as well as the ups and downs of his official career. It was mainly through the art of painting and poetry, as well as the ideal of reclusion, that he sought feelings of exhilaration and shared them with his friends. Xu created this monumental landscape during one of his periods of reclusion. His innumerable “hemp-fiber” texture strokes create a unifying rhythm among the towering mountains with tightly knit masses of rocks.

More mountains art

Cloudy Mountains Cloudy Mountains Mi Youren (Chinese, 1072–1151)1130 Streams and Mountains without End Streams and Mountains without End Unknown artist1100–1150 An October Day in the White Mountains An October Day in the White Mountains John Frederick Kensett (American, 1816–1872)1854 Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains Unknown artist1244 Mt. Qingbian Mt. Qingbian Dong Qichang (Chinese, 1555–1636)1617 Buddhist Retreat by Stream and Mountains Buddhist Retreat by Stream and Mountains Juran (Chinese, active 960–985)960–85

Sources & data