"Qi Baishi's figure painting spirit" is Beijing Fine Art Academy of Qi Baishi collection’s figure painting thematic exhibition.

 

          Qi Baishi's figure painting is developed much earlier than his flowers and birds’ series and landscape painting series. According to the "autobiography", his first portrait finished when he was 8 years old and inspired by the realistic characters presented in front of his village.

 

          Qi Baishi started learning art and craftsman works when he was 16 years old. After 20 years old, he start imitated figures from traditional Chinese painting books, “Jie Zi Yuan Painting Book”.

 

          During age of 26, Qi Baishi learned folk portrait painting from Xiao Xianggai and Wen Shaoke folk. At the age of 27, he become student of Hu Qingyuan, Chen Shaofan, from then on, he become a professional artists. Qi Baishi created portrait based on both real people and photos, and he uses traditional and carbon two drawing methods. From 27 years old to 40 years old, he has been working as a portrait painter active in Xiangtan and Changsha area. During this period, besides painting portraits, he also Painted Ladies, children's, historical figures and Buddhist figures, which all influenced by Huang Shen, Gai Qi and Fei Danxu and Qian Huian.

 

          In 1899, Qi Baishi started his career under Wang Xiangqi’s teaching, wide ties with literati, thinking began to change, the deliberate pursuit of literati, in the creation of painting is the pursuit of literati painting ink interest, thus formed his declining years reform. From 70 years old to 90 years old, Qi Baishi's art stage is at his epic period, personality style fully formed. His genre, theme, form and style are relatively stable. During the prosperous era of Qi Baishi's figure painting, he combined the Bada Shanren, Shi Tao and Jin Nong style; he created reduced figures and full of charm, concise and not hasty imagery.

 

         Beijing Fine Art Academy collected 56 Baishi figurative paintings and 64 draft works, which all from Qi’s flourishing period, represents Qi Baishi's mature figure painting style; and sketch is Qi Baishi's own collection of figure painting manuscript. It is rare to find. This exhibition of Qi Baishi's figure painting evolution as a clue, the juxtaposition and manuscript works displayed, supplemented by other collections of pictures and literature creation of Qi Baishi, reveal those freehanded figure image.

 

        The worked exhibited in this exhibition not only reflected the previous people’s art work, but also shows his life observation and unique imagination in his own style.