Immaculate family-----Vegetable and fruit in Qi Baishi’s paintings will meet audience on 8th Jul.2011 at the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy, this is the 8th series exhibition after the themes of insects; figures; plum blossom, orchid bamboo, chrysanthemum and pine tree; mountains and water; aquarium creature; flower and calligraphy. About ninety paintings will be displayed on this exhibition.
During all themes, vegetable and fruit paintings contend the strongest nostalgic feelings of Qi Baishi; Qi Baishi put his profound thoughts and contemplations on these common things.Qi Baishi love different vegetables, such as cabbage, ternip, towel gourd, bamboo shoot, mushrooms, pepper, pumpkin, henry steudnera tuber etc. These vegetables accompany Qi Baishi’childhood and contend a lot of the artist’s memories. The earliest painting of this theme collected in Beijing Fine Art Academy was finished in 1922 which named Pomegranate, this is the third year when Qi Baishi settled in Beijing, although he had travelled many years far from his hometown but he still missed his homeland and his family a lot, these vegetables were the main food of his family in difficult years. As an artist, Qi Baishi hides his emotions in his paintings, he painted a number of paintings around this theme which are an important evidence of Qi Baishi’s achievement. Vegetables and fruits very close to people’s daily life and they have a special meaning in poverty times, this is also the reason why Qi Baishi chose it as his motif. Qi Baishi had planted vegetables and fruits personally, and these experiences impressed him deeply.
When we mentioned art we will surly also talk about emotion. Basically, art comes from emotion. Art is useless if mankind do not have feelings, in another word, if art do not have any influence on emotion, art is not art anymore. These words wroted by Lin Fengmian （林风眠）in his To the National Art Field. Just because Qi Baishi related his true feelings in his paintings, especially in the paintings about vegetables and fruits, this is why Qi’s paintings can be so attractive to the public.
True emotion behind vegetable and fruit theme
Immaculate family often used as the title of Qi Baishi’s paintings on vegetable and fruit theme. Born in a poverty family, cabbage is usually a common food for the whole family, as cabbage’s leaves are green and its root is white, and green and white quite similar with innocent in pronunciation in Chinese, Qi Baishi regarded the nine years after his travelling was full of happiness, a lot of his paintings just conveyed his love of famer life and his distinctive value point.
The exhibition is characterized by various paintings
The exhibition is displayed according to chronology and included about 96 paintings, 42 handing scrolls, 41 mounted and framed paintings, 10 leaves of albums, 3 paintings mounted as fan, 16 seals, some of these paintings are the first time meet the public. Every painting contends the artist’s wisdom; they are the widows of Qi Baishi’s heart.
Ground Art Background Information for Further Understanding of Qi Baishi
Besides Qi Baishi’s paintings, there are also other typical Chinese modern paintings displayed in the exhibition, from these materials audience can find the inherence of tradition and the creative sprite of Qi Baishi’s paintings.
