The paintings, calligraphie and seals of QI BAISHI

Introduction

Qi Baishi (1863-1957) was born in a small village named "Stars Pond", from Xingtan County in Hunan Province. He studied very little at school where he learnt some poetry. His family was poor and he was therefore forced to abandon his studies at an early eage. At fifteen years old, he began his apprenticeship in a carpenter's shop. When he was twenty, he became famous for his fine techniques on decorative wood carving and religious portrait paintings. At twenty-seven, he learnt classical literature and traditional Grass and Insects paintings from Hu Qinyuan e Chen Shaofan. At thirty-two, he organized jointly with seven friends a poets society called "Longshan" and was in turn elected the director. Since 1902, he travelled frequently and became acquainted with a lot of people. Since then, his love and vision for literature and art became blossomed. In order to escape from the social chaos, he chose to live in Beijing in 1917 and became acquinted with Chen Siceng. Two years later, Qi changed his painting style from a realistic to a more spiritual expression. In 1922, Chen Siceng took some of his works to participate in an exhibition in Japan. His paintings were greatly appreciated and were sold at a good price. In 1927 and 1928, he was invited by Lin Fengmian and Xu Beihong to teach in the Baijing Art School and the Faculty of Art, University of Beijing. In 1946, when the Chinese Artist Association was founded, he was elected honorary Director. In 1950, he was invited to be the Honorary Professor of the Central Academy of Arts and in 1955, he was awarded the International Peace Prize.