Qi Baishi Woodblock Scroll

Qi Baishi  Woodblock Scroll 1950

 Qi Baishi (齊白石, 1864–1957) was one of the most well-known contemporary Chinese painters. His original name is Qi Huang (齊璜) and courtesy name Weiqing (渭清). Baishi (“white stone”) is one of his pseudonyms. Some of Qi’s major influences include the Ming dynasty artist Xu Wei (徐渭) and the early Qing dynasty painter Zhu Da (朱耷). The subjects of his paintings include almost everything, commonly animals, scenery, figures, vegetables, and so on. In his later years, many of his works depict mice, shrimps, or birds. Qi Baishi is particularly known for painting shrimps.

       Born to a peasant from Xiangtan (湘潭), Hunan, Qi Baishi became a carpenter at fourteen, and it was largely through his own efforts that he became adept at the arts of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal-carving. In his forties, Qi Baishi began traveling and looking for more inspiration. He came upon the Shanghai School, which was very popular at the time, and met Wu Changshuo (吳昌碩) who then became another mentor to him and inspired a lot of his works. Another influence of Qi Baishi came about fifteen years later, as Qi became close to Chen Shizeng (陳師曾) after he settled down in Beijing.