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Qi Baishi (1 January 1864 – 16 September 1957) was a Chinese painting, noted for the whimsical, often playful style of his works. Born to a peasant family from Xiangtan, Hunan, Qi taught himself to paint, sparked by the Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden. After he turned 40, he traveled, visiting various scenic spots in China. After 1917 he settled in Beijing. Qi was the master of Hu Jieqing, the wife of Lao She.
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" (三百石印富翁). In 1953, he was elected president of the China Artists Association (中國美術家協會). He died in Beijing in 1957.
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 Ch’i: "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.
While not overtly political, Qi's work in the early 20th century reflected tensions between tradition and modernity. His style evolved to eventually strip away a level of polish associated with more traditional élite Chinese court painting. Yet at the same time, his work translated these traditional folk ideas into a register for an educated urban audience.
Like many other artists and intellectuals, Qi viewed the ascent to power of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War, with a degree of fear. He told fellow artist Xu Beihong that he feared for his life if he did not flee the country into exile. When Qi eventually did receive a quasi-formal visit from officials, they expressed admiration for his work. Qi's work in the immediate aftermath of the Chinese Civil War put his own work in a context in line with the May Fourth Movement. For instance, he saw his depictions of farm tools as analogous to working in agricultural labor.
The superficially traditional and apolitical themes of his work largely spared Qi from political interference in contrast to other artists of the period. To the contrary, he received explicit and implicit endorsement from the state and political leaders. His vitality was used in government propaganda, and Mao Zedong collected Qi's work. It was sometimes seen by other artists that Qi's approach served as a model for reconciling artistic freedom with the Chinese political context after the CCP's rise to power.
Qi was “elected to the National People’s Congress and made honorary Chairman of the National Artists Association in the early 1950s. He was viewed as representing a continuing commitment to traditional cultural values in revolutionary China”. He died at age 93.
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:
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 Shan shui".Xiangtan, p. 2 Although Qi was not 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; 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 in Beijing.
In 1919, Chen Chunjun came to Beijing and obtained Hu Baozhu (1902–1944) as Qi's concubine. From 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)—and 3 daughters—Qi Lianglian (born 1927), Qi Lianghuan (born 1928) and Qi Liangzhi (1931–2010).Xiong Zhichun Interview in Helsinki, Finland 2013
Qi and Chen's children:
Qi and Hu's children:
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.
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