QI BAISHI (1863-1957)

THE SIYUAN TANG COLLECTION OF QI BAISHI PAINTINGS
The owner of the Siyuan Tang collection was a man who loved Qi Baishi's paintings, in particular the naturalistic way he rendered flowers and the spirit with which he depicted them. In Chrysanthemum and a Jar of Wine, Qi painted so realistically that one can almost smell the pungent intoxication of the mix of flowers and wine. Qi sketched a lively and animated Pigs, with the inscription, 'having spent time in the backyard of my Xing Tang house'. Through the painting, Qi recalled his years as a herd boy, as well as the steadfast spirit of the working class. In his rare depiction of Tiger, Qi painted the lines defining its bone structure with fluidity and ease, his meticulousness in depicting a crouching tiger culminating minute details such as its fur, to the overall ferocity and agility of the animal. Qi's depiction of landscapes is also in a class of his own. Dedicated to Lengan, who was Hu Peiheng, Qi's good friend, Spring Scenery highlights his unique interpretation of landscapes, containing new methods, distinctive perceptions, and unexpected compositions that propelled and set the tone for a new genre of Chinese paintings. Although Qi's landscape paintings initially received criticism for being too avant-garde in comparison to traditional landscape painting, Hu already saw and understood its immense significance and collected many landscapes by Qi. From the added inscription by Hu Peiheng's son Hu Tuo, one can see the high regard the Hu family as a whole had for Qi's landscape paintings.