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Qi Baishi (1 January 1864 – 16 September 1957) was a Chinese painter, noted for the whimsical, often playful style of his works. Born to a peasant family from
Xiangtan Xiangtan () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hunan province, south-central China. The hometowns of several founding leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, including Chairman Mao Zedong, President Liu Shaoqi, and Marshal Peng Dehuai, ...
,
Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
, Qi taught himself to paint, sparked by the
Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden ''Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden'' (, ), sometimes known as (), is a printed manual of Chinese painting compiled during the early-Qing Dynasty. Many renowned later Chinese painters, like Qi Baishi, began their drawing lessons with the manual. ...
. After he turned 40, he traveled, visiting various scenic spots in China. After 1917 he settled in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. Some of Qi's major influences include the early
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
painter
Bada Shanren Bada Shanren (; 1626 – 1705), born Zhu Da (), was a Chinese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and painter of the ink wash painting style. He was of royal descent, being a direct offspring of the Ming dynasty prince Zhu Quan who had a feudal establis ...
() and the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
artist
Xu Wei Xu Wei (, 1521–1593), other department Qingteng Shanren (), was a Chinese painter, playwright, poet, and tea master during the Ming dynasty. A noted painter, poet, writer and dramatist famed for his artistic expressiveness.Cihai: Page 802. ...
(). The subjects of his paintings include almost everything, commonly animals, scenery, figures, toys, vegetables, and so on. He theorized that "paintings must be something between likeness and unlikeness, much like today's vulgarians, but not like to cheat popular people". In his later years, many of his works depict mice, shrimp or birds. He was also good at seal carving and called himself "the rich man of three hundred stone seals" (). In 1953, he was elected president of the
China Artists Association The China Artists Association (), originally the China National Art Workers' Association (), is the official national association of Chinese artists, with its headquarters in Beijing. It was established in July 1949, with Xu Beihong as its first c ...
(). He died in Beijing in 1957.


Early life

He was born in
Xiangtan Xiangtan () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hunan province, south-central China. The hometowns of several founding leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, including Chairman Mao Zedong, President Liu Shaoqi, and Marshal Peng Dehuai, ...
,
Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
and grew up in a family of low-income background. He lived with his parents, grandparents, and eight younger sisters and brothers. Qi was schooled for less than a year due to illness. However, he was too weak to do much of the work and this was when he became a carpenter. While Qi was growing up, he came upon a Chinese manual of painting, this was what sparked his interest in art and painting animals, insects and other types. In his paintings, he depicted things that people have seen, however, he didn’t start following this motto until much later in his life. He first studied the ''
Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden ''Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden'' (, ), sometimes known as (), is a printed manual of Chinese painting compiled during the early-Qing Dynasty. Many renowned later Chinese painters, like Qi Baishi, began their drawing lessons with the manual. ...
'' () and used performers, mainly opera, for models to practice his work. After using opera performers as models, Qi turned to anyone he knew to pose for him.


Training and education

“Qi Baishi started receiving artistic training from Hu Qinyuan (胡沁園) which consisted of fundamentals in ''
gongbi ''Gongbi'' () is a careful realist technique in Chinese painting, the opposite of the interpretive and freely expressive '' xieyi'' (寫意 'sketching thoughts') style. The name is from the Chinese ''gong jin'' meaning 'tidy' (meticulous brush c ...
'' (工筆) mode, which features fine brushwork and meticulous detail” (Jung Ying Tsao p. 199). He was taught that every aspect of painting mattered, from the subject matter to the way the ink was applied to the paper. His landscape paintings came as a result of his next mentor Tan Pu. Because of his training, he then realized that he could pursue art as his full-time career instead of just dreaming to become a professional artist (Jung Ying Tsao p. 199-201). Despite his training in ''gongbi'', Qi is famed for painting in the freely expressive '' xieyi'' (寫意 ‘sketching thoughts’) style. Qi was popular for his variety of works ranging from plant to animal life; because of his natural style, collectors both “artistic and political” purchased his work. According to the article, Qi Baishi zi''_Huang;_'' zi''_Huang;_''Art_name">hao''_Baishi_Laoren,_Baishi_Shanqeng.html" ;"title="Art_name.html" ;"title="Courtesy_name.html" ;"title="h’i Pai-shih; ''Courtesy name">zi'' Huang; ''Art name">hao'' Baishi Laoren, Baishi Shanqeng">Art_name.html" ;"title="Courtesy_name.html" ;"title="h’i Pai-shih; ''Courtesy name">zi'' Huang; ''Art name">hao'' Baishi Laoren, Baishi Shanqeng "Qi’s works were based on his life and his character. After the fall of the Qing dynasty Qi was known for not letting all the political issues affect his work and keeping his own values and ideas through the harsh times. According to Confucian standards, starting off as nothing and creating a name for yourself, as Qi did, was very honorable (Xiangtan p. 1). Qi managed to master many different techniques including calligraphy and seal-carving. After establishing himself in Hunan as a painter and artist, it wasn’t until his forties that he began traveling and looking for more inspiration. Qi came upon the Shanghai School, which was very popular at the time, and met Wu Changshuo who then became another mentor to him and inspired a lot of Qi’s works. Another influence of Qi didn’t come until about fifteen years later who was Chen Shizeng (陳師曾) who he became close to when he was living in Beijing. Qi was becoming more and more well-known and sought after. During World War II, many traditional art works and culture were no longer considered valuable and were thus destroyed. But Qi was still respected and was “elected to the National People’s Congress and made honorary Chairman of the National Artists Association, he represented a continuing commitment to traditional cultural values in revolutionary China” (Xiangtan, p. 1). He died at age 93.


Settling down

After all of his travels, Qi built a house and settled down. He began reading and writing poetry and painting some of the mountains he saw while traveling. These paintings became a series of fifty landscape pictures known as “Chieh-shan t’u-chuan.” Later, poems and postscripts by artists that Qi knew were printed onto the paintings (Boorman & Howard p. 302-304). One of Qi’s earlier series of works called “The Carp” was recognized and praised for its simple style - it contained no excess of decorations or writings. His noticeable talent with wood-carving was also highly praised, as was his ability to express his personal influence through his work. It wasn’t until his mid-fifties that Qi was considered a mature painter. By then, his lines were sharper and his subject matter had changed from wildlife to botany. As said by Wang Chao-Wen, “he based his work on reality while experimenting ceaselessly in new ways of expression, to integrate truth and beauty, create something yet unimagined by other artists, and achieve his own unique style, on that should not be artificial” (p. 127).


Experiences and works

Wang Chao-Wen said that while Qi was talking to a student in Beijing, he saw an outline of a bird on a brick floor in muddy water. He goes on to say that not everyone would have seen the bird, but because Qi was always concerned with finding new images to paint, he had a “special sensitivity” (p. 129). It was said that Qi had something special about him because he was constantly thinking about painting and had such a strong drive and motivation to be a great artist. (Chao-Wen p. 90698) Excerpts from Qi Baishi’s journal demonstrate the strong passion and conviction he had for his work. From the article “An Appreciation of Chi Pai-Shi’s Paintings,” his journal entry reads as follows: “When I cut seals I do not abide by the old rules, and so I am accused of unorthodoxy. But I pity this generation’s stupidity, for they do not seem to realize that the Chin and Han artists were human and so are we, and we may have our unique qualities too… Such classical artists as Ching-teng, Hsueh-ko and Ta-ti-tzu dared to make bold strokes in their paintings, for which I admire them tremendously. My one regret is that I was not born three hundred years ago, for then I could have asked to grind ink or hold the paper for those gentleman, and if they would not have me I should have starved outside their doors rather than move away. How wonderful that would have been! I suppose future generations will admire our present artists just as much as we admire these men of old. What a pity that I will not be there to see it!” (Wang Chao-Wen p. 130-131) What is unique about Qi is that his works show no western influences, unlike most other artists at this time. Other artists praised Qi for the “freshness and spontaneity that he brought to the familiar genres of birds and flowers, insects and grasses, hermit-scholars and
landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...
” (Xiangtan, p. 2). Although Qi wasn’t the first artist to focus on small things in nature, he was highly recognized for his thoughtful and lyrical approach in depicting these subjects. Forgery and misattribution of Qi's work has become common in the contemporary art market.Qi Baishi, Dead, Keeps Making Art
at MuseumZero; published November 25, 2013; retrieved January 9, 2014
Replicas flood China's auctions as art becomes a business
, at Want China Times; published October 25, 2012; retrieved October 28, 2013
He is estimated to have produced between 8,000 and 15,000 distinct works throughout his life, of which 3,000 are in museums; however, since 1993, auction houses have attempted to sell over 18,000 distinct works attributed to him. A painting attributed to him, ''Eagle Standing on Pine Tree (老鷹圖)'', was sold for 425.5 million yuan ($65.5 million) in 2011, becoming one of the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction. However, doubts over the painting's authenticity were later raised by the bidder.A Culture of Bidding: Forging an Art Market in China
at
the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
; by David Barboza, Graham Bowley, Amanda Cox, and Jo Craven McGinty; published October 28, 2013; retrieved October 28, 2013
The market for Qi's paintings has made headlines in the art market, both for China and the world. In 2016, his works held the second position by value (third by number of lots to sale) by auction. At the end of 2017, the art world was rocked by the news that his ''Twelve Landscape Screens'' (山水十二條屏) (1925) catapulted him into the '$100 Million Club' by selling for $140.8 million (931.5 million yuan) at the Beijing Poly International Auction Co, China.


Family

In 1881, at age 18, Qi completed his apprenticeship and married his child bride Chen Chunjun (1874-1940) in his Hunan hometown. The couple had five children, three sons: Qi Liangyuan (born 1889), Qi Liangfu (1894-1913) and Qi Liangkun (born 1902) and two daughters (unknown names). In 1919, Chen Chunjun came to Beijing and obtained Hu Baozhu (1902-1944) as Qi's concubine. Since then, Qi and Hu lived together in Beijing. The couple had 7 children together. Four sons: Qi Liangchi (born 1921), Qi Liangyi (born 1923), Qi Liangnian (1934-1938) and Qi Liangmo (born 1938, nowadays lives in Beijing) and 3 daughters: Qi Lianglian (born 1927), Qi Lianghuan (born 1928) and Qi Liangzhi (1931-2010).Xiong Zhichun Interview in Helsinki, Finland 2013


Heritage

There were/are many painters of Qi's young generation: Qi and Chen’s children: * Qi Liangkun (also known Qi Ziru) and his son Qi Kelai. Qi and Hu's children: * Qi Liangchi, also his son Qi Zhanyi * Qi Liangyi also his son Qi Bingyi * Qi Liangmo, also his son Qi Jianxiong and his daughter Qi Huijuan * Qi Liangzhi, also her son Xiong Zhichun and daughters Xiong Youyou and Qi Yuanyuan Qi Liangkun, Qi Liangyi, Qi Liangchi, Qi Liangmo and Qi Liangzhi have kept the family tradition ongoing and are actively painting the style learned from Qi Baishi. Xiong Zhichun was taught by Liangmo and Liangzhi, later studied in art academy abroad to form his personal art style.


See also

*
Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as ''guó huà'' (), meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western style ...
*
Qi Baishi (crater) Qi Baishi is a crater on Mercury. The crater was named after famed Chinese painter Qi Baishi. The crater has an asymmetric pattern of ejecta rays, which formed by an object traveling to the east or to the west and impacting Mercury's surface at ...


Notes


References

*Boorman, Howard L., and Richard C. Howard. "Ch'I Pai-Shih." Biographical Dictionary of Republician China I (1967): 302-304. *Chao-Wen, Wang. "An Appreciation of Chi Pai-Shih's Paintings." 126-131. * Tsao, Jung Ying. The Paintings of Xugu and Qi Baishi. 1st ed. Seattle and London: Far East Fine Arts Inc, 1993. 5-447. *Xiangtan. "Qi Baishi h'I Pai-Shi;Zi Huang; Hao Baishi Laoren, Baihi Shanweng" Grove Art Online (2007): 1-3.


External links


Qi Baishi's paintings at China Online Museum''Straddling East and West: Lin Yutang, a modern literatus: the Lin Yutang family collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Qi Baishi (see table of contents) *
Qi Baishi - ''Resplendent Red amid Remaining Lotus Leaves''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Qi, Baishi 1864 births 1957 deaths Qing dynasty landscape painters Republic of China landscape painters People's Republic of China landscape painters People from Xiangtan Painters from Hunan Chinese male painters 19th-century Chinese painters 19th-century male artists 20th-century Chinese painters 20th-century male artists