Qi Baishi is one of the most well-known Chinese artists in history and his main period of producing art was during the late 1800s until the mid-1900s. His painting differed in the subject, but they always followed the theme of relatability. Qi was born to a poor family and through fortune he found his artistic talent and voice that he was able to share with the world. However, he always stayed true to his poorer roots and made sure that his art was easily enjoyed by both the wealthy and the poor citizens of China. In order to accomplish this Qi decided to paint many images that most people have seen before in nature. (Image 1)
This was valuable in changing the artistic landscape in the 20th century because Qi’s personal style broke away from the traditional Chinese style of painting. In most of his works, he didn’t use the classic Chinese calligraphy that was used in traditional Chinese art. (Cao, 1) This allowed other artists to break away even further from the chains of traditional styles of painting. He was able to do this because his art was not motivated by the political changes in China. Instead, he was able to remain isolated from outside pressures on what others thought art should look like. (Image 2)
Another reason Qi’s art was able to remain unchanged regardless of the changing political landscape was because of his widespread popularity. He gained this popularity because his art followed a playful style which was a stark difference from what others were painting during this time. In Image 3 Qi shows his sheer artistic talent and just by looking at it the widely spread popularity of his art is more believable because his style is simple yet detailed and visually appealing. The color of both the duck and the flowers complement themselves and calms the viewer because the piece is not trying to say too much instead it is just a lovely scene in time.
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Work Cited:
Image 1: YouTube, 23 February 2022, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.artnet.com%2Fmarket%2Fqi-baishi-record-140m-beijing-1182881&psig=AOvVaw1UY9Q96MkakOkuP0A580k_&ust=1683850199717000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCNCTk_r86_4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ. Accessed 10 May 2023.
Image 2: YouTube, 23 February 2022, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.artnet.com%2Fartists%2Fqi-baishi%2Ftiger-ikqVanc8voAlwAOU9MOzBQ2&psig=AOvVaw1UY9Q96MkakOkuP0A580k_&ust=1683850199717000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCNCTk_r86_4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAR. Accessed 10 May 2023.
Image 3: YouTube, 23 February 2022, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.comuseum.com%2Fpainting%2Fmasters%2Fqi-baishi%2F&psig=AOvVaw1UY9Q96MkakOkuP0A580k_&ust=1683850199717000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCNCTk_r86_4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE. Accessed 10 May 2023.
Cao, Cheng. Merging Past and Future Forms: Qi Baishi’s Landscape Painting. Maryland Institute College of Art, 2014.
Jupiter Justice
This is extremely interesting to learn about. Especially since when you look up Chinese art, Qi’s art is usually the one to pop up or a style like it. Im curious about how he was able to make his art accessible. Did he just sell it for a really cheap price or was he able to mass produce a lot of works? I am also curious on what aspect you are focusing on in his Exhibition. There is a lot of excellent information in here about Qi but what is your vision for this exhibition? What do you want to highlight?
Sadie Hill
Qi’s art is beautiful and you bring wonderful descriptions of it to the table. I love the images that you picked out for this specific post as they show how he incorporates nature, color and animals into his art. I think it would be super interesting to compare his images to some very old traditionalist paintings in your exhibit to show how Qi both is influenced by and strays away from the techniques and ideas used in those. And, maybe incorporating them inn your exhibit could give the audience a better understand of Qi’s work, and what he aims to portray.