Pine and Bamboo

Description

Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930
May 18, 2013 – September 1, 2013
Qi Baishi
China, 1864–1957
Pine and Bamboo
circa 1930
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Gift of Katsuizumi Sotokichi, University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1949/1.191
inscribed:
For some time, Mr. Katsuizumi has wanted to see me paint. This painting is given to him to look at. Written by Baishi.
Qi Baishi’s painting of a more traditional literati subject—pine trees and bamboo—is in the long, hanging scroll format common in East Asian painting. Noguchi has adopted this vertical format in his depiction of a slender robed monk, originally mounted as a hanging scroll. This represents a significant change from his earlier drawings of human figures.
Favorite subjects for hanging scrolls by Chinese literati (amateur scholar-artist) painters were high mountain peaks and low streams or tall pine trees standing alone. Pine trees and bamboo signify a person who does not yield in the face of political and social hardships—pine trees because they remain green in the depth of winter and bamboo because it does not bend even under heavy snow.