Qi Baishi, to some extent
Is the eldest and most successful Beijing drifter in China throughout the history
He was already 58 years old when he came to Beijing
He was all alone
From Hunan to the capital city
Starting from scratch
He made it to a great artist eventually
The most expensive work (of Qi Baishi)
Is the Twelve Landscape Screens
Which was auctioned for $180 million last year
It’s the first art work joining the “$100 million club”
Ever in an auction in China
My name is Qi Huijuan
I’m the youngest granddaughter of Mr. Qi Baishi
My father is the youngest son of my grandfather who had him at the age of 78
His name is Liangmo
When Qi Baishi just arrived in Beijing
He lived in a temple
Picai Hutong
Was the residence of my grandfather in Beijing in his last years
It was a small cozy Siheyuan
In around 1935
The situation was bad
And the society was in chaos
He welded thin iron bars into a fence
In front of the house to the north
It was like a wall
It might be the first security door in China
My father was born there
Grandfather always brought my father with him
My father was naughty
When he saw something beautiful or interesting
He brought it to grandfather
Grandfather painted doves
So my father kept a dozen of doves
For grandfather to paint from
When my father was around 7 or 8 years old
Grandfather had already become renowned all around the world
Friends from the art circle
Politicians
Mr. Zhou Enlai, Zhu De
Mr. Mei Lanfang, Mr. Wu Zuguang
Mr. Xu Beihong, Mr. Lao She
Mr. Xin Fengxia
They all came to visit him
My grandfather was handsome
He was 1.8 m in height
Very tall
He was a very neat person
His long gowns were always clean and tidy
They were never wrinkled
Or dirty
Until he reached over 90
His white shirts must be clean and white
He kept his home accent for decades
Ever when he was old
He spoke with Hunan accent, just like Chairman Mao
My grandfather was miserly
Just a joke
But in fact he ate a fixed quantity of food everyday
200g of rice or some noodles
His favorite was Hunan cuisine
Xiangtan peppers
Chili peppers, preserved meat
Hunan-style small fishes and so on
Under people’s impression
Qi Baishi is always the old man who’s sitting in front of the painting table
In old age
He barely went out
All he did was painting and engraving seals
In 1922
He sold his paintings at the Liulichang Street
Others could sold a painting for 4 silver dollars
But he could sold for only 2 dollars each
He spoke in Hunan accent
And was not good at Beijing dialect
He was not good at communication too
And received little recognition
Later Mr. Chen Shizeng knew my grandfather
And brought his works to Japan
An art exhibition in Tokyo
But the works became instant hits
One piece could be sold for 100 silver dollars or even 250 silver dollars
Which were quite high prices in China
So my grandfather built a reputation since then
And his paintings at Liulichang were in short supply
Why are my grandfather’s works so popular
Everybody loves them
For the subjects are common in daily life
And pleasant to see
Many of his painting materials were made by himself
He would mix pigments
Like he would mix magenta and carmine together
Into red
He also made the ink paste himself
People mistakenly believe
Qi Baishi started learning painting at 58
And gained fame and success overnight
He received little schooling
Or formal education
Actually my grandfather officially started learning painting at 27
He copied paintings every day
Once he copied paintings under a pine oil lamp
And he fell asleep directly
When he woke up the next morning, he looked like a giant panda
Why
Because the pine oil produced smoke when burnt
And his face was smoked into black
Before 40
He created a large number of Gongbi(meticulous) paintings of figures
Vert detailed
Even the mat was painted
Brushstroke by brushstroke
Since 40
He went on five trips in 5 years to travel around China
He learned more about regional differences
And various landscapes
Gradually his painting style turned from Xiaoxieyi
To Daxieyi
Mr. Laoshe once asked my grandfather to paint a picture
Under the name “The Sound of Frogs Issues forth from the Mountain Spring for 10 Li around”
How to depict “10 Li”
And how to depict “the sound of frogs”
You can’t paint a group of frogs with open mouth
But you can’t conform to conventional patterns either
My grandfather thought about it for several days
In the end he didn’t paint any frog
Instead he painted a heap of stones
And several small tadpoles
Swimming down a mountain spring
When I was a teenager
I swore I would never be a Chinese painter
The name Qi Baishi was a burden for me
But after going back and forth
I returned to Chinese painting
And I started to realize
That the name Qi Baishi does not only belong to our family
But also traditional Chinese culture and art
I just consider myself
To be lucky
I’m on the shoulder of a giant
I’m very grateful to my grandfather