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Chinese tradition places essences, character, and spirit above the simple faithfulness to appearances. Qi Baishi(1863-1957) was one of the greatest Chinese painters of modern times, whose paintings well represent Chinese traditon.
He was born in a small village named Stars Pond, from Xingtan County in Hunan Province. He lived with his parents, grandparents, and eight younger sisters and brothers. He was born in a poor family, so he had to abandon his studies at an early age. 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 woodcarving and religious portrait paintings. At twenty-seven, he learned classical literature and traditional Grass and Insects paintings from Hu Qinyuan and Chen Shaofan. At thirty-two, he organized jointly with seven friends a poet society called "Longshan" and was in turn elected the director (Pei 1).
In 1902, Qi’s began another period in his life, he started to travel outside of Hunan province. He was away home for almost seven years, and when he returned home, he bought an old house, and he studied and painted there. In China, we have an old idiom, which is: “Travel 10,000 miles, read 10,000 books.” After reading that idiom, Qi was determined to read 10,000 books. In order to escape from the social chaos, he chose to live in Beijing in 1917. In 1919, Qi changed his painting style from a realistic to a more spiritual expression. In 1922, Qi’s work was participated in an exhibition in Japan. His paintings were greatly appreciated and sold at good prices. 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
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1955, he was awarded the...