St. Olaf College

Ch'i (Pai- shih) Qi Baishi

Contemporary Shanghai School
China
1864 - 1957

View objects by this artist.

Qi Baishi (born Qi Huang) was born to a peasant family in Xiangtan, Hunan, China, in 1864. At the age of fourteen, he began work as a carpenter. He was a largely self-taught artist, inspired by the works of Xu Wei and Zhu Da. In his forties, he began traveling for artistic inspiration and ended up at the Shanghai School. While there, he met Wu Changshuo, who was not only an inspiration to him but a mentor throughout his career.

Eventually, Qi Baishi chose to settle in Beijing. It was there that he met Chen Shizeng, yet another friend and inspiration. During his time in Beijing he was elected president of the Association of Chinese Arts in 1953.

Qi Baishi is best known for his paintings of shrimps, though he engaged with a variety of natural subject matter throughout his long career. He continued working until the end, even briefly serving as honorary president of the Beijing Academy of Chinese Painting, which was founded in May of 1957. He passed away in Beijing in September of that same year.

Madison Duran ‘20
February 2020

Sources:
“Qi Baishi: Chinese Painting.” China Online Museum,
www.comuseum.com/painting/masters/qi-baishi/.

Image: https://www.wikiart.org/en/qi-baishi