As we all know, in the history of modern Chinese art, Qi Baishi was a master of poetry, calligraphy, painting and sealing. He is good at painting flowers and birds, aquatic animals, landscapes, figures and other subjects. He is very accomplished in freehand brushwork, but he is also good at fine brushwork, especially his meticulous grass, insect and flower paintings, which represent the highest achievement of his painting. He uses the word "beyond ancient and modern" to describe The evaluation is spot on.
Cao-Insect Painting refers specifically to paintings that depict insects. There is no special division in the history of Chinese painting, but it is just attached to the category of "flowers, birds, vegetables and fruits". In the "Xuanhe Painting Manual" of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was attached to the fruits and vegetables in Volume 20.
However, in the history of painting in the Tang and Song Dynasties, records of a certain painter who was "good at grass and insects" began to appear.
There are many works of grass and insects in the sketch paintings of the Song Dynasty, and some of the fine brushwork of grass and insects are astonishingly detailed.
For example, Lin Chun's "Grape Grass and Insect Group Fan",
But there are fewer types of grass and insects painted. Ju Lian of the late Qing Dynasty was a master of meticulous grass and insect painting, and his painting "Wutong and Two Cicadas" is very exquisite. Qi Baishi not only created a wide variety of grass and insect paintings, but also created a unique painting method of "part-time work and writing", which surpassed his predecessors and brought grass and insect painting to an unprecedented height.
Dabbled in grass and insect themes before the age of 30
Qi Baishi’s best friend Li Jinxi mentioned in the 1902 section of "Chronology of Qi Baishi": "Before Xin Chou (1901), Baishi's paintings Mainly focusing on fine brushwork, grass and insects have long been lifelike. Because his family has always raised grasshoppers, grasshoppers, locusts, and other creatures, he often pays attention to their characteristics and practices direct sketching. After a long time, they are naturally lifelike. ." It can be seen that Qi Baishi started painting grass insects before he was more than 30 years old.
Qi Baishi himself recalled in "The Narrative of Old Man Baishi": "At that time, my younger brothers Zhongge and Zhongmai were less than 20 years old. During the summer vacation, they often accompanied me, and they were lively and cute. I watched them fluttering butterflies, Catching dragonflies and catching cicadas gave me specimens for painting."
The earliest grass-insect painting that can be seen by Qi Baishi is "Moths on Grass Leaves" painted in 1894, which belongs to the "Three Hundred" section. The stone seal "rich man" is a typical Jinnong style, and the seal is also a commonly used early seal "wooden layman". In addition, the "Flowers and Crickets" round fan was "painted by Qinyuan Master's Mother" in 1902. The crickets are very meticulous and the flowers are painted with boneless painting. The flowers of this period were mostly in fine brushwork, and the colors were not bright. Some paintings were signed in Jin Nong style, which was obviously Qi Baishi's early grass-and-worm painting style.
Before the political reform in 1920, Qi Baishi had been painting freehand grass, insects and flowers for a period of time using Bada Shanren’s Lengyi painting method. He used pure ink and ink, simple brushwork and smooth composition. However, after It was not popular at the time and was largely abandoned later.
The titles of Qi Baishi's paintings contain many records of sketching insects. For example, the 1919 "Weaver Girl" collected by the Liaoning Museum has the title: "I found this insect in the borrowed mountain museum in the last ten months. People call it the Spinner Girl, or the Spinner Woman, which is a perfect portrayal of the insect." In 1922. Qi Baishi wrote in "The Album of Grass and Insects, Part 5 of Twelve, Solitary Locust in Autumn Leaves": "Since I was young, I have disliked meticulous painting, thinking that it was done by a craftsman. It is not satisfying to have large leaves, thick branches, and messy smearing. I have been studying painting for 50 years, but when I was 40 years old, I got seven insects by playing with them. When I was about 60 years old, Mr. Baochen saw it, and I only wanted to be scolded by those who knew it. My brother Qi Huang recorded it. " On another painting titled "Beetle Beans", he wrote: "Painters have always said that it is not easy to paint people without their hands, but they also say that it is not easy to paint insects with their feet. You cannot do such a job without catching insects and sketching from life."
How did Qi Baishi's grass-and-worm paintings begin to transform and form?
Let’s take a look at the "Bees" fan painted in the year of Xinyou (1921). The picture shows 10 bees of different shapes, and the flowers they match are neither bright nor outstanding.
The "Lychee Beetle" painted in 1924 of the same year, although the pen and ink is a bit restrained, the style of part-time writing has begun to take shape.
In the mid-1920s, Qi Baishi's painting style began to change dramatically. After absorbing the painting methods of Wu Changshuo's Jinshi School of Shanghai, he added his own personal changes, making the colors more vivid and eye-catching.
At this time, he combined freehand brushwork with flowers and meticulous brushwork with grass and insects. The painting style was novel and unique, and was welcomed by the market.
Qi Baishi painted a wide variety of grass and insects throughout his life, with as many as dozens of species. There are not only dragonflies, butterflies, cicadas, bees, grasshoppers, grasshoppers, mantises, crickets, beetles, moths, mole crickets, locusts, stove horses, spiders, water bugs, but also cockroaches and flies. Unclean insects such as cockroaches and flies were difficult to paint in the past, but Qi Baishi painted them into paintings. The viewer does not feel dirty, but the paintings are vivid and natural.
Of course, Qi Baishi also painted those beautiful insects. He painted the most butterflies, dragonflies, cicadas and bees. He painted "Lychee Dragonfly", "Red Wild Goose Butterfly", "Maple Leaf Autumn Cicada" and "Wine Bee", It's a joy to watch. He also loves to draw grasshoppers, grasshoppers, mantises and crickets. He painted "Gourd Grasshopper", "Impati Grasshopper", "Rice Mantis" and "Bean Cricket", which have a strong sense of life.
When did Qi Baishi stop painting grass and insects?
In a book titled "Book of Grass and Insects" written by him in the 1920s, he wrote: "There are those who ask for the craftsmanship of drawing insects, and the rest of their eyes are dimmed by the fog, so they have stopped writing from now on." In another painting, "Workers and Insects" In "Old Boy", Qi Baishi's inscription: "The old man in Jipingtang held a thin pen forcefully", which shows that during this period, the old man Baishi did not draw much with artificial pens. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, Qi Baishi produced meticulous paintings of grass and insects, and even after the founding of the People's Republic of China, individual works of grass and insects appeared, but the number was significantly reduced. Are these gongbi grass-worms ghostwritten by others? Or is it the original work of Mr. Baishi himself?
As for these meticulous grass and insect paintings of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, most academic circles believe that Qi Baishi deliberately painted more meticulous grass and insects in advance in his early years in order to prevent his poor eyesight in old age. In the 1940s, I took it out and repainted flowers, which formed the later works. This point is confirmed in the inscription of "Dragonfly and Morning Glory" that Qi Baishi painted for his female disciple Lao She's wife Hu Jieqing in 1952. Qi Baishi wrote on the painting: "Female disciple Jieqing likes to give old works, and old age will add to the beauty." Twelve-year-old Baishi. "Qi Baishi was already 92 years old at this time, and could no longer paint dragonflies with fine fine brushwork. The inscription specifically stated that it was "an old work by a female disciple of Jie Qing, Xiyu." It can be seen that it is the handwriting of the old man Baishi himself, and It’s not someone else’s ghostwriting.
While his eyesight was poor and he rarely painted grass and insects in fine brushwork, Qi Baishi also painted a lot of freehand grass and insects, such as "Lotus Plate Dragonfly", "Cat Butterfly Picture" and so on. In the "Album of Flowers, Grass and Insects" painted in the Northeast Museum in 1954, he specifically mentioned: "This album is like San'er's painting of insects. Old Man Baishi appliqued the flowers and grass and inscribed them." Some of Qi Baishi's meticulous grass and insects of this period have made the three sons and Qi Zi like them. Ghostwriting, but the seal on the painting is "Zi Ru Hua Chong", so it can only be regarded as a collaborative painting.
It is rumored that some of Qi Baishi's meticulous paintings of grass and insects in his later years are those of Qi Ziruhua. This speculation is difficult to determine. Among Qi Baishi's children, Qi Ziru was the first to become famous for his paintings, and was especially good at grass and insects. His paintings of dragonflies, grasshoppers, mantises, cicadas and grasshoppers were vivid and lifelike. Qi Baishi once wrote on a small album page: "Zi Ru learned more about painting insects than I did, and his skill in painting insects is greater than that of Nai Weng." Qi Ziru's grass and insects were praised by many.
Qi Baishi also has some meticulous grass and insect paintings that are not accompanied by freehand flowers, but exist as independent works in the form of grass and insect paintings.
Qi Baishi wrote a long inscription on one of the pages of the album to explain this: "This album has twenty pages, all painted by Baishi. No flowers or plants have been added. Never need to do so in the future." It is best to add one worm at a time. The author of Xixiang Ci said that there is no need to continue, but there are good things to do, and the ugly and strange things come together. "This kind of independent grass worm." Although the painting is an empty picture with only a grass insect, it is naturally a complete work because of the inscription and seal. The Beijing Academy of Fine Arts also has some paintings of grass and insects painted by Qi Baishi, without any inscriptions or seals. After Qi Baishi's death, his family donated them to the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts. These paintings are of course recognized as Qi Baishi's authentic works.
Qi Baishi's meticulous grass-and-worm paintings have been enthusiastically sought after by collectors due to their originality of "combining craftsmanship and writing", and have frequently performed well at auctions in recent years. As early as 2009, Qi Baishi's "Unfortunately Silent" album of flowers, grass and insects was sold at a high price of 95.2 million yuan.
At the autumn auction in December 2015, Qi Baishi's "Ye Yin Hearing Sound·Flowers and Meticulously Painted Grass and Insect Album in Eighteen Opens" once again sold for a sky-high price of 115 million yuan.
It is precisely because of the popularity of the market that fakes of grass, insects and flowers have appeared in large numbers at auctions, and many of them have been sold at high prices. For example, a certain high-priced album had stiff calligraphy and dull style, and the composition was not Qi Baishi's usual composition, yet it was sold at a high price. At present, Qi Baishi's grass, insect, and flower paintings at auction include early works before the 1920s, as well as works from the 1930s and 1940s. There are many varieties. Buyers should remain highly vigilant to avoid being deceived.