Culture Beat: New exhibition marks 160th birthday of painter Qi Baishi

Wu Hongliang, president of the Beijing Fine Art Academy Photo: Courtesy of the Beijing Fine Art Academy

The Beijing Fine Art Academy is hosting an exhibition at the academy museum to mark the 160th birthday of renowned Chinese painter Qi Baishi. Curated by Hang Chunxiao, a deputy director of the Institute of Fine Arts of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, the exhibition titled Rustic Paper, Great Art: Qi Baishi's Ink Traces and Freeing Toys, features a total of 74 sets of Qi's artworks, such as his flower sketches.    

Wu Hongliang, president of the Beijing Fine Art Academy, said in an interview that the idea for the exhibition came after the discovery of more than 20 of Qi's works on flowers in the academy's warehouse. "We had never seen them before and they were painted on rustic paper. In fact, they were creations made in the early stage of Qi's time in Beijing and include sketches and practice paintings," he said. 

Hang had the idea to host an exhibition putting rustic paper and good paintings together.    

Different from previous exhibitions focused on the mature paintings from Qi, the exhibition aims to use paper as a way to present Qi's creative journey from a new perspective.

The exhibition is set to run until October.