Calligraphy and Painting

Dragonfly and Lotus Seedpod by Qi Baishi

: Since Mi Fu (1051-1107) and Mi Youren - father and son painters in Song - created a technique in...

: Four strong handsome horses stand against the wind; three facing sideways and one with its back...

: This work portrays an old, bright red plum. The bulk of the plum is contoured with heavy charred...

Ink and color on paper
23.1x30cm
National Art Museum of China

Qi Baishi (1864-1957)
Otherwise known as Huang, courtesy name: Binsheng, native of Xiangtan, Hunan Province. He trained as a carpenter in his youth but became a painter calligrapher, master seal carver and poet He was chairman of the Chinese Association of Painters. In 1963, he was listed as one of the "World Persons of Culture" by the International Peace Council. He excelled at landscapes, flowers and birds, and characters. Influenced by Bada Shanren and Wu Changshuo, he advocated an aesthetic principle of "between likeness and un-likeness". He was skilled at discovering beauty in ordinary life. This picture paints a small water scene in autumn. The waves and the lotus seedpod in coarse brush, and the red dragonfly in fine brush make a nice contrast In the space divided into four parts of various sizes by two lotus stalks, waves, inscriptions and seal f the three relatively small parts and leave the biggest part to the dragonfly. The dragonfly is painted carefully in great detail: a small piece is missing on the transparent hind wing We can almost hear the buzzing of the dragonfly's wings.