Modern painting master Qi Baishi's shrimp painting is a must in the painting world, and the shrimp in his pen have different postures and are vivid. In fact, Qi Baishi also painted tigers, but there were not many paintings, and some people said that he painted no more than 5 tigers in his lifetime. In the Palace Museum, there is a collection of Qi Baishi's "Tiger Map" axis.
Photo/Art Newspaper Zheng Xuefu (Scholar of Literature and History)
Original title: Qi Baishi paints a tiger without painting a face
Qi Baishi Tiger Figure 68×33 .6cm
This picture is on paper, colored, 68 cm in length and 33.6 cm in width, and the section is signed: "Three Hundred Stone Printing Rich Man Qi HuangZuo", Plutonium "Qi Da" Zhu WenFang Seal. This picture is contrary to the normal state of the tiger and is different. First, the tiger is the king of a hundred beasts, dominating the mountains and forests, most of the background of the painter's tiger figure is mostly a strange peak, the mountain is high and densely forested, while the background of Qi Baishi's "Tiger Map" has no mountains and peaks, nor a dense forest, just a piece of grass, on which is a large piece of white space, there is no mystery and majesty of the mountain. Second, most of the tigers painted by most painters are round-eyed, open mouths, and fierce and abnormal, while Qi Baishi's "Tiger Diagram" only paints the back of the tiger, does not paint the face of the tiger, and cannot see the majestic state. On the picture, a tiger has its back to the viewer, crouching in the grass, the tiger stripes are colorful, the tail is slightly raised to the left, the tiger's vicious face cannot be seen, and only five whiskers are leaked, which looks docile and cute. Some people think that Qi Baishi's paintings are mostly sketches, he has never seen a tiger, the experience of painting tigers is very small, and the purpose of not painting the face of the tiger is to hide that he cannot paint, so he "draws a tiger according to a cat". In fact, this painting of the tiger reflects Qi Baishi's artistic proposition of painting.
Qi Baishi Tiger Diagram (Partial)
Being innovative and painting your own true feelings is Qi Baishi's consistent artistic proposition. He once said that "the beauty of painting lies between similarity and dissimilarity, too much like kitsch, not like deception." He once carved a seal of "I made my own painting of my home" to show that in his artistic creation, he not only taught the ancients and created the teacher, but also paid more attention to innovation and change, and shaped his own style. He once exhorted his disciples: "Those who learn from me are born, and those who resemble me die," and asked them to be like gods and not resemble others, rather than simply inheriting the teacher's teachings, otherwise their art would have no vitality. The artistic style pursued by Qi Baishi is to communicate the aesthetic interests of the world and the literati, neither kitsch nor crazy deception. It can be both extremely workmanlike and minimalist, creating at two extremes respectively, and finally not sticking to either extreme, breaking the traditional literati painting of bamboo that is, writing "humble heart", painting orchid will write "youxiang" cliché, and focusing on depicting its spirit. He writes freely, is full of changes, simple and simple shapes, vivid and strong colors, elegant and customary appreciation, unique, and has achieved the artistic conception of both form and god and blending scenes. Extremely rare in his paintings of tigers, this one shows Qi Baishi's alternative style to his conventional subject paintings, and interprets his philosophy of innovation in a unique way of expression. Although "Tiger Figure" does not have a picture of the tiger and tiger, you can still feel the robustness and strength of its body through the figure twisting on the tiger's back; although the wind and grass on both sides of the tiger's body are moving, the tiger is not moved by the surrounding environment, and has a strong concentration, showing a calm and self-respecting king style. In his later years, Qi Baishi increasingly strengthened the shape of "not resemblance", and also strengthened the dominance of "God", to the point of "the pen is simpler and the more complete the God". This can be seen in the painting technique of tiger stripes. Most painters paint dense and fine, the pursuit of realism, and Qi Baishi's tiger diagram has formed a unique "should be thin and thick" realistic style, representing Qi Baishi's ability to control the subject matter is not good at the realm of "arbitrary". This "Tiger Map" also expresses Qi Baishi's life values of fame and fortune from one side. He has never had the desire to join the world, lazy to socialize, regardless of idle business, indisputable with the world, always with a pure heart, immersed in the experience of art, reveling in the hometown of art.
Qi Baishi Tiger Ink on Paper 69.3×138cm, 1950
Qi Baishi also has a painting of "Tiger", which is similar to this one. A tiger lies horizontally in the painting, its head turned inside, showing only a back shadow, and the tiger's tail curls up, showing a strong and powerful tiger. The whole picture gives people a feeling of silence, showing the domineering spirit of the tiger without anger and arrogance. The composition is ingenious and ingeniously conceived. The book reads "General Ren Di Zheng of Xiao Tian, Little Brother Huang of November gengyin". According to Zhang Zongxian, the owner of the painting and a famous collector, in 1950, Qi Baishi, who was in his nineties, rushed to Shanghai to congratulate his old friend General Yang Hu on his birthday, and lived in the Yang family apartment to paint this work as a gift. The painting was sold for 32.02 million yuan at sotheby's Spring Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Auction in Hong Kong in April 2010, which shows its high artistic value.