What are the characteristics of Qi Baishi's shrimp paintings?

The biggest feature of Qi Baishi's worship is truth and original ecology. He once said: To draw a picture of thousands of insects and create a spirit of thousands of birds, you should draw your own face. Regarding flowers and birds, he writes fluently and vigorously. But when you draw a worm, you are meticulous and extremely fine. Besides these two masters, Qi Baishi also highly praised the painting styles of Xu Wei, Zhu Da and Shi Tao.

For example, shrimp, crabs, cicadas, butterflies, fish and birds are full of the vitality of nature. The landscape composition is unique but original, the seal cutting is unique and the calligraphy is outstanding. For Qi Baishi, whether it is a still life or an animal, to truly restore the original state, it is necessary to carefully observe the attitude of the object. He often ponders the characteristics and spirit of these flowers, trees, fish, birds, insects and animals.

Extended data

Mr. Baishi began to draw shrimps when he was young. He often plays by the pond and catches shrimps with cotton as bait. Since then, he has formed an indissoluble bond with shrimp. In order to draw shrimps well, he kept the long-arm blue shrimps in the water bowl on his desk, so that he could often observe the shape of shrimps and draw sketches to better understand the structure and dynamics of shrimps. Before the age of 60, Baishi painted shrimp mainly by copying and learning shrimp painting techniques from Badashanren and Zheng Banqiao.

After the age of 70, the shrimp paintings of the old man Baishi were basically stereotyped, but they were still being improved and perfected. After the age of 80, the old man Baishi's painting of shrimp has reached the point of perfection, which is not only the image, but also the meaning and spirit. Reed shrimp, aquatic plants, strange stones, kingfishers, etc. Together with simple and elegant poems and powerful seals, it has made thousands of artistic treasures.