Woodblock prints on paper, double pages, fine silk brocade cover. China, 1952

The album includes a collection of 22 color woodblock prints after paintings by the important Chinese artist QI Baishi (1864-1957). Published in 1952 by the publishing house Rong Bao Zhai in Beijing. Depictions of characteristic motifs from the Chinese flora and fauna in the tradition of classical scholar painting. The artist translates these motifs with his unique expressive and vivid brush strokes. Album bound in an original silk brocade cover with a geometrical diagonal pattern. The vertical label on the cover reads: ‚Qi Baishi Huaji' (Collection of works by Qi Baishi), one red artist seal. Imprint on the last page, dated: ‚1952, May, Beijing'. On the first page hand-written inscription by a former collector in German: ‚Herzliche Glückwünsche zum 50. Geburtstag! Walter und Lisl, 19.11.1956', below a collector's label in German: ‚Holzschnitte nach Tuschbildern des berühmten Malers Chi Bai-she, gedruckt im Jahre 1952 in dessen 92. Lebensjahr.' Qi Baishi was one of the most famous painters of the 20th century and a modernizer of Chinese art. He was born as son of a farmer in 1864, in Xiangtan in the Hunan province. The artist began painting at the age of 14 and started a voyage through China's famous landscapes in 1904, where he attained great fame. In 1917, Qi Baishi then settled in Beijing. He was elected into the national congress of the people in 1953 and was the first president of the Chinese Association of Artists. He died 1957 in Beijing. Qi was a frontrunner of modernist painting and developed his own expressive style of the so-called Chinese scholarly painting.

Shape: Rectangular vertical shape
Dimensions: 31.5 x 21.5 cm (album size)
Condition: Good condition, min. age-related cracks and very minor staining, well preserved colors
Provenance: Austrian Private Collection

1952年榮寶齋《齊白石畫集》
品相良好，與年代相符的裂縫了一些污漬，色彩保存良好
奧地利私人收藏