Qi Baishi
Master of modern ink painting.
Qi Baishi was a carpenter before he became a painter, and he renewed ink painting with everyday subjects such as shrimps, crabs and vegetables.
Qi Baishi was born in 1864 into a poor peasant family near Xiangtan in Hunan province. He went to school only briefly and became a carpenter and then a woodcarver as a young man. He taught himself to paint, partly with the classic textbook The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, and began supporting himself as a portrait painter and decorator. Only as an adult did he have teachers in poetry and painting.
Around the turn of the 20th century he made several long journeys through China, seeing famous landscapes and collections. Around 1917–1919 he moved to Beijing. There he was at first unknown and regarded as provincial. On a friend's advice he renewed his style in his sixties and developed the manner that made him famous.
Qi Baishi painted everyday subjects that had previously had no place in refined painting: shrimps, crabs, frogs, chicks, insects, vegetables and tools. His shrimps are famous. With a few strokes of grey ink he created translucent bodies and antennae that seem to move in the water. He often combined black ink with clear colours, especially red. He was also a highly skilled seal carver and poet.
He became a popular and beloved artist. After 1949 he was celebrated by the new Communist state as an artist with roots among the people, and he received honorary titles and international prizes. He worked into extreme old age and died in 1957.
Qi Baishi is regarded as one of the greatest Chinese artists of the 20th century. He showed that traditional ink painting could be renewed with humour, everyday life and personal style. His works are today among the most expensive in the world at auction. In 2011 a painting of an eagle with an accompanying piece of calligraphy sold for the equivalent of around 65 million dollars.