Home province
Qi Baishi (1864-1957), a master ink artist, spent most of the last four decades of his life in Beijing while missing his home village in Hunan province, where he started from humble beginnings and struggled for a living as a carpenter, not knowing what his future would be. One can sense these nostalgic feelings through his paintings, in which he depicted peach blossoms, oil lamps, fresh lotus roots and other objects in reminiscence of the life in Hunan.
He once engraved a seal on which he carved: "A guest in a strange place sees the moon shed its light on the mountains in his hometown." This has inspired an exhibition that is now on at the Hunan Art Museum in Changsha, with more than 140 paintings of Qi on display.
These works show how landscapes and folk customs of Hunan shaped the artist's character and art style. Qi's most beloved paintings often juxtapose small insects, plants, rural scenery and agricultural tools. He shared his rural family background proudly in his work, showing the fun, peaceful aspects of the countryside, as well as a love for his people back home. The paintings are from the collection of the Beijing Fine Art Academy, where Qi was the first and only honorable president.
The exhibition runs through to April 10.
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 2 Jinjiang Road, Yuelu district, Changsha, Hunan province.0731-8278-1500.