From Publishers Weekly
Chinese master painter Qi Baishi (1864-1957) fused traditional freehand brushwork and folk-art technique into a deceptively simple style. His morning glories, peaches, and ships braving wind and waves have a fresh immediacy that cleanses the doors of perception. His crabs and dragonflies are marvels of conciseness and energy, seemingly effortless nature studies. In combining meticulous observation with rustic vigor, he comes up with lush color schemes and freewheeling impressions, all held in balance. As art critic/painter Cai Ruohong notes, Qi, an abstractifying realist, paints "flowers of both reality and imagination" their petals emotionally colored, lit by the painter's ideals. Reproducing 150 paintings in color, this lavish slipcased album includes an analysis of Qi's techniques and translations of the paintings' Chinese inscriptions.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Qi Baishi was a Chinese painter who lived from 1864 to 1957, surviving the political upheavals of his time to create a tremendous number of works in the traditional Chinese style. Neither large scrolls nor complex landscapes, the paintings of Qi Baishi are single views of simple subjects: shrimp, plants, birds, and the like. This volume reproduces more than 150 paintings done in a colorful, direct style that should appeal to contemporary Western taste as well as to aficionados of Chinese brushstroke techniques. The brief text offers a few comments on Qi Baishi's style and a chronology of his life. Suitable for a wide audience, from high school stu dents to specialists.
- Kathryn W. Finkelstein, M.Ln., Cincinnati
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Kathryn W. Finkelstein, M.Ln., Cincinnati
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
