caption death_date death_place birth_place imagesize field birth_date image article_title name
qi baishi in 1946 , photograph by lang jingshan 16 september 1957 beijing xiangtan , hunan 200px painting 1 january 1864 qi baishi -lrb- 1946 -rrb- , by lang jingshan.jpg qi baishi
 qi baishi
qi baishi

qi baishi -lrb- january 1 , 1864 -- september 16 , 1957 -rrb- was an influential chinese painter .
born to a peasant family from xiangtan , hunan , qi became a carpenter at 14 , and learned to paint by himself .
after he turned 40 , he traveled , visiting various scenic spots in china .
after 1917 he settled in beijing .
he is perhaps the most noted for the whimsical , often playful style of his watercolor works .
some of qi 's major influences include the early qing dynasty painter bada shanren -lrb- zhu da -rrb- and the ming dynasty artist xu wei .
his pseudonyms include qí huáng -lrb- 齊璜 -rrb- and qí wèiqīng -lrb- 齐渭清 -rrb- .
the subjects of his paintings include almost everything , commonly animals , scenery , figures , toys , vegetables , and so on .
he theorized that `` paintings must be something between likeness and unlikeness , much like today 's vulgarians , but not like to cheat popular people '' .
in his later years , many of his works depict mice , shrimp or birds .
he was also good at seal carving and called himself `` the rich man of three hundred stone seals '' -lrb- 三百石印富翁 -rrb- .
in 1953 he was elected president of the china artists association .
he died in beijing in 1957 .
