Solitary Bird Perched on a Banana Plant
Qi Baishi
Description
Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930
May 18, 2013 – September 1, 2013
Qi Baishi
China, 1864–1957
Solitary Bird Perched on a Banana Plant
circa 1930
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Gift of Katsuizumi Sotokichi, University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1949/1.196
inscribed:
A farewell gift for Mr. Katsuizumi as he travels south. Baishi
Qi Baishi inscribed and gifted this painting of a lone bird and a banana plant to Sotokichi Katsuizumi before he returned to Japan in 1931. “South” in the inscription indicates Tokyo, which is south of Beijing.
Subject Matter:
In 1922, a friend persuaded Baishi to submit paintings to a Sino-Japanese art exhibition in Japan. It was a spectacular success: his paintings sold for far higher prices than he had been earning in China and several were chosen for an exhibition in Paris, which led to international fame. The Japanese remained some of Baishi’s most eager customers, although he increasingly refused their requests after Japanese incursions into China in the early 1930s.
However, this painting was a gift for the artist's Japanese friend. The artist inscription indicates that it was a farewell gift for his Japanese friend Katsuizumi Sotokichi when he left Beijing for a more southerly post.
It perhaps anticipates that Katsuizumi would be lonely in his new environment. Made in probably the 1920s, it quietly bears witness to an earlier and more congenial phase in Chinese-Japanese relations.
Physical Description:
This painting depicts a solitary bird perched on a tropical banana plant. There are inscriptions and signature of the artist on the upper left-hand corner: "A farewell gift for Mr. Katsuizumi, as he goes south. Baishi."
Usage Rights:
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