Solitary Bird Perched on a Banana Plant / Qi Baishi (Ch'i Pai-shih)
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1949/1.196
- Title
- Solitary Bird Perched on a Banana Plant
- Artist
- Qi Baishi (Ch'i Pai-shih)
- Artist Nationality
- Chinese
- Artist Life Dates
- (1864 - 1957)
- Medium and Support
- ink on paper
- Object Creation Date
- circa 1920
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- China (nation)
- Beijing (municipality)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- China (nation)
- Creation Place 3
- Beijing (municipality)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Katsuizumi Sotokichi
- Inscription
- Inscription and signature of the artist: "A farewell gift for Mr. Katsuizumi, as he goes south. Baishi."
- Dimensions
- 152.4 cm x 53.34 cm (60 in. x 21 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- hanging scroll
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- bird and flower
- 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."
- 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.
- Secondary Keywords
- animals and creatures
- buildings and the land
- deciduous trees
- landscapes (environments)
- natural landscapes
- plants
- settlements and landscapes
- trees
- trees by leaf life
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- woody plants
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 1723 x 3584
- File Size
- 102 KB
- Record
- 1949/1.196
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1949-sl-1.196/1949_1.196.jpg
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Related Links
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- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1949-SL-1.196:1949_1.196.JPG
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- Full citation
-
"Solitary Bird Perched on a Banana Plant; Qi Baishi (Ch'i Pai-shih)." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1949-sl-1.196/1949_1.196.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 28, 2024.