cover image Likeness and Unlikeness: Selected Paintings

Likeness and Unlikeness: Selected Paintings

Pai-Shih Ch0i, Qi Baishi. China Books & Periodicals, $89.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8351-2216-0

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. (Oct.)