Brushstrokes celebrate nature's vigor
Artist's works animate his illuminating perspectives on what many would consider to be mundane, Lin Qi reports.
The exhibition was previously held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco before traveling to Boston. It primarily displays collections from the Beijing Fine Art Academy, where Qi served as its first honorary president, and to which Qi, his family and friends have donated many artworks and documents for public viewing and research.
The tour, which began last year in memory of the 160th anniversary of Qi's birth, continues the Beijing Fine Art Academy's efforts to raise Qi's profile and cultural influence with a series of exhibitions and exchange events.
Wu Hongliang, director of the Beijing Fine Art Academy, said at the time that by doing so, the academy is seeking collaborations with overseas museums that also have Qi's art in their collections.
Wu says this wish has been realized at the Boston exhibition at MFA, which houses a rich collection of Chinese art including Qi's paintings. This time, Browsing by Candlelight, an ink and color work on paper donated to the museum by Fan Tchun-pi, or Fang Junbi (1898-1986), a 20th-century female painter, has rejoined Qi's works from Beijing.
