Gao Qifeng

Gao Qifeng(Chinese:高奇峰;pinyin:Gāo Qífēng; 13 June 1889 –  2 November 1933) was a Chinese painter who co-founded theLingnan Schoolwith his older brotherGao Jianfuand fellow artistChen Shuren. Orphaned at a young age, Gao spent much of his childhood following Jianfu, learning the techniques ofJu Lianbefore travelling toTokyoin 1907 to studyWesternandJapanese painting. While abroad, Gao joined the revolutionary organizationTongmenghuito challenge theQing dynasty; after he returned to China, he published thenationalistmagazineThe True Record, which later fell afoul of theBeiyang government. Although offered a position in theRepublic of China, Gao chose to focus on his art. He moved toGuangzhouin 1918, taking a series of teaching positions that culminated with an honorary professorship atLingnan Universityin 1925. Falling ill in 1929, Gao left the city forErsha Island, where he took students and established the Tianfang Studio.
In his painting, Gao blended traditionalChinese approacheswith foreign ones, using Japanese techniques for light and shadow as well as Western understandings of geometry and perspective. Although he painted landscapes and figures, he is most recognized for his paintings of animals, particularly eagles, lions, and tigers. In his brushwork, he combined the vigour of his brother's technique with the elegance of Chen's. Gao taught numerous students, includingChao Shao-anandHuang Shaoqiang; he was particularly close toZhang Kunyi, with whom he may have been romantically involved.
Gao was born Gao Weng (高嵡) in Yuangang Township,Panyu County, Guangdong,on 13 June 1889. The family was poor, and his father Boxiang died in 1895; his mother followed two years later.A sickly child, Gao was sent to live with a relative.One of six brothers, he ultimately became the ward of his brotherJianfu–  ten years his elder–  and followed him into the arts.
In his youth, Gao learned the water infusion and "boneless" painting techniques employed byJu Lian.Sources disagree to the provenance of this knowledge. Gao Jianfu is known to have studied under Ju at his Xiaoyue Qin Pavilion,and thus he is often attributed as teaching them to his brother.Others have suggested that Gao Qifeng studied directly with Ju.No archival material has been found to support the latter scenario,and Ralph Croizier notes in his study of theLingnan Schoolthat, if true, Gao studied under Ju only briefly.
Gao attended a Christian school by the age of fourteen,and later converted to Christianity. In the mid-1900s, he took an apprenticeship with Pastor Wu Shiqing, painting lampshades at his Yongming Zhai glass shop. He later worked with Wu's brother Jinghun to open another storefront.As an adult, he took thecourtesy nameQifeng.On his early paintings, he used theart nameFei Pu (飞瀑); thesealwith which he signed his paintings was marked Fei Pu Sketching.
In 1907, Gao travelled to Tokyo with his brother to further study art.While Jianfu was enrolled at theTokyo School of Fine Arts,Gao became a student ofTanaka Raishō;he appears to have also drawn influence from artists such asTakeuchi SeihōandHashimoto Kansetsu. All of these artists promoted thenihongastyle, which blended Western techniques with Japanese ones.Through his studies, Gao learned Western approaches toperspectiveand sketchingand became familiar with the works of theKyoto school. He developed a style that blended these various influences, seeking to combine thenaturalismof Western art with thelyricismand philosophy of traditionalChinese painting.
After returning to China in 1908,the Gao brothers moved toNanhai.Gao Qifeng became a teacher at the Nanhai Middle School, while also learning psychology and sociology, holding that the truth, goodness, and beauty of art could better address thehuman conditionwith insight into the problems of society.Teaching art, Gao believed, would allow the transmission of a better understanding of ethics and social conditions.In 1908, he donated several paintings to a fundraiser for flooding victims in western Guangdong.
In Japan, the Gao brothers had joined theTongmenghui, an organization established to overthrow theQing dynasty.Gao Jianfu arranged the assassinations of several Qing leaders, with the death of GeneralFengshanattributed to a painter whom he had recruited;Gao Qifeng may also have been involved in this cell,and his friend and fellow revolutionaryWang Jingweirecalled him sleeping soundly in a room full of explosives.After the1911 Revolution, the brothers were offered positions in the newRepublic of Chinaby Tongmenghui leaderSun Yat-sen, but declined.
Instead, the Gao brothers moved toShanghaiand establishedThe True Record, a large-format magazine that consisted of pictures, paintings, cartoons, chronicle paintings, essays, reviews, and sketches.Thisnationalistmagazine, subsidized in part by the new government,published seventeen issues between June 1912 and March or April 1913, with Gao Qifeng as the editor-in-chief.The Gaos believed that pictorials could best "arouse people's patriotic thoughts and support the order of social progress".In essays, the brothers called for the creation of a new approach to art, as well as improvements in art education; other parts of the magazine offered news and social commentary.They also decried the increasingly authoritarianBeiyang government.
Gao –  writing with Xie Yingbo and Ma Xiaojin –  published an article in 1913 implicating Provisional PresidentYuan Shikaiin the assassination of nationalist leaderSong Jiaoren. According to the writerCai Dengshan[zh], Yuan thus issued a warrant for their arrest, and Gao began a self-imposed exile in Japan.This claim is not supported universally among scholars,though Gao is thought to have spent time learningwoodblock printing in Japan.As the decade continued and China's nascent democracy devolved into corruption andwarlordism, Jianfu grew disenchanted with politics; the art critic Li Yuzhong suggests that Qifeng was likely influenced by his brother in this regard.
In the 1910s, the Gaos had established the Aesthetic Institute, a combined gallery, exhibition hall, and publishing house, in Shanghai.Through the bookstore, they sold reproductions of Chinese and Western paintings,including their own works.As the decade continued, Gao devoted himself exclusively to painting and teaching. He moved to Guangzhou in 1918 to lead the Art and Printmaking Department at the Class A Industrial School.He also established the Aesthetics Museum on Fuxue West Street.In 1925, Gao was made an honorary professor atLingnan University(now part ofSun Yat-sen University).He was provided land upon which he built a studio;according to the curator Christina Chu, these were his most productive years.
Through the 1920s, Gao gained increasing recognition for his artwork, and he was frequently featured inThe Young Companion, a bilingual pictorial magazine published in Shanghai.Prior to the construction of theSun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Gao was asked to contribute three of his works:Sea Eagle(海鷹),White Horse in the Autumn River(秋江白馬), andLion(雄獅); during his lifetime,Sun Yat-senhad expressed a fondness for these paintings, none of which has survived.
Around 1929, Gao fell ill withpneumoniaand removed himself from the city to recover, being admitted to the Zhujiang Nursing Home onErsha Islandin thePearl River.After a year, Gao was released, choosing to establish the Tianfang Studioon the island to continue his work. There, he taught numerous students, with the seven most famous becoming known as the Tianfeng Seven.However, Gao remained sickly, and his productivity suffered; he only made one trip, toGuilinin 1931, to find new inspirations and materials.
In 1933, an exhibition of contemporary Chinese painting was scheduled in Berlin.Gao was selected as a government representative,and asked to travel to Shanghai for a preliminary meeting.On the ship from Guangzhou, Gao fell ill, and his fellow passengerYe Gongchuosought medical attention. Gao was diagnosed withtuberculosis, and after the ship arrived in Shanghai he was brought to Dahua Hospital.
Gao died on 2 November 1933, aged 44. Before his death, he had asked that his artworks be donated to museums and that his Tianfeng Pavilion art studio be maintained as the Qifeng Painting Academy.Per his request, funeral preparations were handled by his studentFan Tchunpi. A memorial service was held at the China Funeral Parlor on Haige Road (now Huashan Road), attended by artists such asChen Shurenand Ye Gongchuo, as well as politicians such asWang Jingwei,Cai Yuanpei, andWu Tiecheng. Other tributes came fromSun Fo,Ju Zheng, andZhang Ji.Gao's body was subsequently escorted by his studentZhang Kunyito Guangdong, where he was interred at the Christian Cemetery inHenan; the national government contributed 2,000yuan(equivalent to ¥197,000 in 2019) to cover expenses.
Zhang pushed for the state to give Gao recognition,finding support from numerous prominent politicians, including Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, andYu Youren. They petitioned for Gao to be reinterred closer to the national capital inNanjing, arguing that he deserved the recognition due to his contributions to the country as well as his artistic skill.This petition was heeded, and Gao was reinterred atQixia Mountainon 27 December 1936. A mausoleum was erected, as was a marker bearing an inscription by then-PresidentLin Sen: "The Tomb of Mr. Gao Qifeng, the Sage of Painting".
Gao is recognized, together with his brother Jianfu and fellow Ju Lian student Chen Shuren, as a founder of theLingnan Schoolof painting.All three shared similar backgrounds, and drew on Western influences in their art,believing that synthesis was necessary to preserve Chinese tradition while creating a new style of "national painting" suited for modern times.Among Gao's students were Zhang Kunyi, Zhou Yifeng, Ye Shaobing, He Qiyuan, Rong Shushi,Huang Shaoqiang, andChao Shao-an. These students, later known as the Tianfeng Seven as they had studied at the studio, continued to spread the influence of the Lingnan School.Several of them later settled inHong KongandMacau, bringing the school and its teachings to these territories.
Gao had five brothers: Guiting (桂庭), Lingsheng (灵生), Guantian (冠天), Jianfu (剑父), and Jianseng (剑僧);Lingsheng had been born to Gao Boxiang's second wife.Guantian had been a partner in the Aesthetic Institute, though he was not an artist.Another brother, Jianseng, travelled to Japan in 1911, and as with Qifeng and Jianfu developed a style that blended Japanese, Western, and traditional Chinese art.He died in 1916, not having gained the same prestige.
Gao married theSuzhou-born Yang Cuixing in 1915 and had a daughter named Liandi the following year. The marriage ended in 1921 when Gao's wife took their daughter and left.Cai Dengshan attributes this to Gao's devoting himself entirely to art.
Gao had a close relationship with his student Zhang Kunyi, who has been described as his goddaughteror adopted daughter,but was also rumoured to have been his lover.Gao dedicated several paintings to her in the late 1920s.She, meanwhile, moved in with Gao despite being married.After he became ill, she tended to him, handled the housework, and studied art under him.Cai Dengshan writes that, after Gao's death, Zhang was so distraught that she mixed her tears with powder to paintplum blossoms, using her own blood for thesepals; he attributes this tofilial piety.Gao Jianfu's student Zheng Danran recalled that the Gao brothers had a falling out, which he attributed to Qifeng's relationship with Zhang.In the 1940s, Zhang arranged for ninety of Gao's works to be brought on a touring exhibition through the United States and Canada.
Stylistically, Gao Qifeng had many similarities with Gao Jianfu and Chen Shuren, the other founders of the Lingnan School. All three had learned the techniques of Ju Lian, and all three had spent time in Japan learning Japanese and Western approaches to painting. Collectively, these artists sought a balance between innovation and tradition, absorbing new ideas while keeping Chinese techniques foundational.In their early years, the Gaos both drew extensively from contemporary Japanese art,with Croizier noting "strong stylistic evidence" that Gao Qifeng had attended theJapan Fine Arts Exhibitionand imitated works presented therein.All embraced, to varying extents, the "boneless" technique.Likewise, all produced works that combined traditional Chinese techniques with Western understandings of perspective andchiaroscuro, thereby blending romanticism and realism.
They also had their individual styles, with Chen remarking to Jianfu, "You partake of the strange and marvelous; I of the orthodox; Mr. Qifeng maintains a middle position."Cai Dengshan agrees, writing that, where Jianfu employed a majestic and innovative approach and Chen's style was dignified and elegant, Qifeng balanced the strengths of both of his peers.Similarly, Li notes that Gao blended the vigour of his brother's brushstrokes with the elegance of Chen's.Croizier writes that, of the three, Gao Qifeng was the most strongly influenced by their Japanese training, with a proclivity for broad ink washes and strong tonal contrasts reminiscent of theShijō school.Each artist favoured different subjects, with Gao Qifeng being best known for his beasts, Gao Jianfu for hislandscapes, and Chen for hisbird-and-flower scenes.
Gao Qifeng's works tend to fetch higher prices than those of the other Lingnan masters. As of 2014, his most expensive painting isLion(雄狮, 1915), which was sold byChina Guardianin 2010 for 6.72 millionyuan(US$993,000).AtSotheby's Hong Kongin 2004, hisFour Landscape Screens(山水四屏) sold for 3.982 millionHong Kong dollars(US$511,300). That same year,Beijing Hanhaisold Gao'sPine and Monkey(松猿图) for 1.32 million yuan (US$159,000).The higher auction prices of Gao's works may be attributed, at least in part, to their relative paucity compared to those of his longer-lived peers.
Regarding his approach to painting, Gao narrated:
As with his peers, Gao drew from diverse sources. His paintings show the influence of Ju Lian and his relativeChao, though not as prominently as in those of Gao Jianfu.These influences are most evident in his earliest works, which employ water infusion and the "boneless" technique while leaving the backgrounds asnegative space.After his interactions with thenihongaschool, Gao began to blend traditional Chinese approaches to painting with foreign ones, sketching his subjects before rendering them with ink and colour.His use of light and shadow reflects Japanese tradition, while his understandings of geometry and perspective draw from Western ones.Gao's later works employed a more freehand approach,with the paintings produced after his illness being described as direct and straightforward, with reduced narrative and little diversity in colour.According to Croizier, they appear rougher yet more intimate, with meticulous detail giving way to more spontaneous imagery.
According to Li Gongming of theGuangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Gao favoured vigorous yet delicate brushwork and vivid images.He used these primarily to depict flora and fauna in a naturalistic manner; his depictions of eagles, lions, and tigers are particularly celebrated. Li Yuzhong suggests that Gao's angry lions and roaring tigers evoke a "bold and unyielding spirit",while Sun Yat-sen deemed his depictions of animals to reflect a revolutionary spirit.Croizier describes Gao as the Lingnan School's premiere painter of tigers, employing a painstaking realism that implies a deep absorption ofMeiji-eratechniques,though he also showed great skill with large birds.
Landscapes and figures are also attested in Gao's oeuvre.Several works depict moonlit nights and winter snows, which Cai Dengshan describes as often having a "delicate, graceful, crystal clear, and clean charm".However, pure landscapes are rare, as Gao's images of trees –  some of which were completed with the assistance of his brother–  and riverbanks are used as settings for animal subjects. "Boneless" colour washes are common in these works.His figures, meanwhile, are mostly religious, and include holy figures such asBodhidharma,though a portrait of the poetLi BaiafterLiang Kaiis known.