Qi Baishi - The Painter, The Poet, The Calligrapher!

by Blouinart Info The Premier Global Online Destination for Art and

‘The Peoples Artist’ Qi Baishi was born to a peasant family from Xiangtan of Hunan and he started his journey in the realms of art as a carpenter when he was just about fourteen. He never received any formal training but it was largely through his own dedication and practice that he became the most revered Twentieth Century painter from China. He was immensely popular even outside China and it was through his contribution that Chinese contemporary art achieved a reach to the Western World who knew litte about the Chinese painting practices before Qi Baishi. He was immensely talented and was capable of creating extremely intricate works in Calligraphy or in seal crafting.

He was always dedicated towards words and he wrote poetry which touched many souls in and around China during his time. Qi Baishi’s love for nature and art can be experienced through his paintings, his inscriptions, calligraphy and poetry. Explore the incredible paintings by this extraordinary Chinese artist and buy Qi Baishi paintings online.

Qi Baishi’s major influences include the Ming Dynasty artist Xu Wei and the early Qing Dynasty painter Zhu Da when he was beginning his journey in the realms of art. His paintings centred on subjects like commonly animals, scenery, figures, vegetables, and in later years, mice, shrimps, or birds. Qi Baishi painted almost everything but Qi Baishi was most popularly known for his paintings of shrimps. He always used heavy ink and combined them with bright colors and vigorous strokes. All his creations are vibrant and alive; they have a certain emotion to them and capture a fleeting moment suggesting motion of life. His paintings are always fresh and the serenity would calm the audience give them a respite from the cacophony of the outside world.

They are still and pristine and they perfectly capture Qi Baishi’s devoted love for nature and life. Qi Baishi’s paintings touch an emotional chord among his followers and his paintings showcase his true inclinations towards the myths and magnificence of the environment. Immerse yourself in the love of nature through Qi Baishi’s paintings and if you are taken by his eloquent and emotional paintings of life and love, buy Qi Baishi’s paintings online.

Qi Baishi once theorized a beautiful expression about paintings that has been attributed to the painter and demonstrates his deep explorations of art and literature and his talent in expressing his feeling. He shared, "paintings must be something between likeness and unlikeness." Another very interesting point about Qi Baishi’s practice is that he was known as much for his clever titles and inscriptions as his paintings skills. He was a brilliant poet and had a way with words. One of his paintings that depicted baby chicks had a humorous title, “The sex of the chicks not yet determined,” while another of his paintings showing two chicks fighting for the same worm that had an inscription “Friends in the past.” Qi Baishi was a renowned poet as well and he found and formed the Longshan poets’ society in 1895 along with his friends and they celebrated their poetic camaraderie with the fellow literati personalities of the then China.

His poetry collections “Jieshanyinguan Shicao” and “Baishi Shicao,” were published in the year 1928 and 1933, respectively. Qi Baishi’s paintings, their curious titles, their poise are truly the gem of this artist that deserves our closer attention. If you are novice to his practice, check out QI Baishi’s paintings online. Drown in thoughtful strokes, breathe and live the love of the nature, truly explore the painting that shaped the Contemporary art practice of China. If you are in love with Qi Baishi’s art.

When he was in his practice he began travelling in search of art and he was curious to learn more to create more. His search for inspirations came to a very successful end when he first discovered the Shanghai School. The school of thought was very much popular during the time and he took his inspirations from the genre of painting. During his travel he was first introduced to Wu Changshuo who had mentored him and later on inspired him in many of his works.

He also cherished through his art the influence of another painting master, fifteen years later, Chen Shizeng, He became close to him and his art reflected his emotions towards his mentor after he was settled down in Beijing. Qi Baishi was also elected to be the president of the Association of Chinese Artists in the year 1953. He continued his works in contributing to art till the last days of his life and he also served briefly as the honorary president of the Beijing Academy of Chinese Painting. The academy was founded in May, 1957 and unfortunately he died in Beijing on September 16, 1957. Throughout his life Qi Baishi served nature in his own way with colours and emotions, words and expressions. Explore the world of Qi Baishi through his art, be one with Qi Baishi’s paintings of nature and if you are truly in love buy Qi Baishi paintings online.