How Do You Say Picasso in Chinese?

Qi Baishi: Inspiration in Ink

Asian Art Museum

Ongoing  – April 7

If you paint with inks, enjoy classic Chinese art, or you want to get the flavor of a typical Beijing street in latter half of the last century, you must check out the Qi Baishi exhibition before it closes in just one month. Allow yourself to be immersed in an intimate look at a modern master whose work revitalized traditional Chinese ink painting. 

According to Confucian standards, starting off as nothing and creating a name for yourself, as Qi did, was very honorable. So, take some time to enjoy the works of the Very Honorable Qi Baishi.

     Reaching new heights with both his influential style and the recent staggering auction prices ($140M), the work of Qi Baishi (Chinese, 1864–1957) transformed traditional Chinese ink painting. Blending expertly minimal brushwork with passages of abstraction, his artworks remain an inspiration to audiences worldwide. His ink paintings capture everyday scenes and familiar moments, evoking the essential beauty of nature and the joy of life’s simple pleasures, and are defined by his whimsical, often playful style, depicting old men picking their ears, half-eaten lunches, or garden insects.

QI’S STYLE

     Qi Baishi was perhaps the best modern Chinese artist who embodied groundbreaking modernity within tradition. His minimalistic paintings were not simple, but the result of skillful observation in the pursuit of the essence of the surrounding world. 

     Although the initial reception of his work was tepid and snubbed because of his humble origins, Qi’s introduction to high society by a famous opera performer changed his fortunes. Thanks to new relations among the cultural elite and his innovative combination of freehand brushwork, bright colors, and folk subjects, Qi became one of the most well-known and sought-after artists in China. As recognition of his art grew, in 1948, Life Magazine sent a photography team to Beijing to take pictures of the artist in his studio, resulting in many Americans’ first exposure to this Avant-Garde artist. Qi was regarded as one of the best contemporary artists of the time, with innovative work echoing modern art movements in the West.

     In addition to about 40 paintings, several recently acquired painting sketches are on exhibit. These rare drafts reveal Qi’s experiments with the ideal placement of figures’ limbs as well as the phrasing and location of his inscriptions, showing the labor and thought necessary to produce the effect of spontaneity that so many have valued in his work. This depth is matched by the breadth of the exhibition’s paintings.

“This show invites the audience to have a conversation with the artist, to learn about his unique vision of nature and takes in art. ... It is something of a homecoming as the de Young Museum was the first major U.S. public museum to host a solo exhibition of the artist in May 1960.” – Fan Jeremy Zhang, Curator of Chinese Art at the Asian Art Museum

  THE EXHIBITION

     Four main galleries are devoted to Qi’s preferred genres – figures, landscapes, flowers and insects. As each themed gallery segues into the next, the layout of a northern Chinese courtyard home takes form, the same kind of house that Qi occupied for many years in Beijing. The long rectangular rooms square around a fifth, courtyard-like space filled with insect studies and bird-and-flower paintings accompanied by an audio track of trickling water.

     Interactive analog and digital features amplify this immersive design throughout the galleries. 

The show’s first wall displays an array of handwritten letters by Qi to his benefactors. These missives offer an intimate, personal view of the unassuming man whose innovative style ushered Chinese ink painting into the modern era. Visitors are encouraged to add their own letter in response to Qi’s work. 

Midway through the exhibition, a scholar’s desk inset with a digital touchscreen allowing viewers to imitate Qi’s distinctive calligraphy style. Another screen shows a video with AI-generated images of San Francisco in Qi’s style.

     The installation also includes a reconstruction of a traditional Beijing hutong – the narrow streets typical of the Chinese capital – and its sounds. Therefore, visitors can immerse themselves in an environment that allows them to experience life in Beijing at the end of the 20th century. Walking through a hutong surrounded by the sounds of traffic, street vendors, and Beijing opera is an additional, more comprehensive lens through which visitors can view and appreciate Qi’s art and style. 

QI’S LIFE

     Qi Baishi was an itinerant carpenter who taught himself how to paint from the Qing Dynasty book Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden, first published in the 17th century. Eventually, he received artistic training in fundamentals in gongbi mode, which features fine brushwork and meticulous detail. He was taught that every aspect of painting mattered, from the subject matter to the way the ink was applied to the paper. Qi’s style quickly moved beyond gongbi and he is famed for painting in the freely expressive xieyi (‘sketching thoughts’) style. 

     Qi Baishi lived through interesting times, as “he witnessed China’s dramatic passage from the Qing Dynasty to the new republic period and the rise of socialism,” says Zhang. Throughout his lifetime, Qi maintained a down-to-earth sensibility rooted in his humble origins as a peasant carpenter – even as he rose to international prominence. No doubt, Qi survived the tumultuous times of the Cultural Revolution because his works were based on nature and the “common man.” Qi was known for not letting all the political issues affect his work and keeping his own values and ideas through the harsh times. He was consistently popular for his focus on birds and animals, scenery, figures, toys and vegetables. Due of his natural style, collectors both “artistic and political” purchased his work.

     Little Ghost Scratching Zhong Kui’s Back

A small blue ghost clambers over the exposed shoulders of the legendary folk deity Zhong Kui. The servant tries in vain to help his disheveled master locate and overcome a persistent irritation, as Qi’s inscription narrates, “You scratch low when the itch isn’t low, you scratch high when the itch isn’t high; if you’re not in my skin, how can you understand what bothers me?” The painting presents a playful but pointed jab at the limits of our capacity for sympathy.

Renowned as the People’s Artist in the PRC, Qi continued to work into his 90s. He tirelessly explored ink art, aimed to share his love of nature among a wide audience and helped them find enlightenment in everyday life. Humble about his own achievements, Qi said, “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 [classical artists such as Ching-teng, Hsueh-ko and Ta-ti-tzu], and if they would not have me I should have starved outside their doors rather than move away. How wonderful that would have been!”

     Traveling to the Asian Art Museum directly from the Beijing Fine Art Academy on the 160th anniversary of the artist’s birth, Qi Baishi: Inspiration in Ink provides a closer look at this important figure in the history of art. A better introduction to the painter sometimes referred to as “China’s Picasso” won’t be found anywhere outside of Asia.

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