Accession Number
1949/1.200

Title
Shrimps

Artist(s)
Qi Baishi

Object Creation Date
1931

Medium & Support
ink on rice paper

Dimensions
14 15/16 in x 15 4/5 in (37.94 cm x 40.16 cm);14 15/16 in x 15 4/5 in (37.94 cm x 40.16 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Katsuizumi Sotokichi

Label copy

Qi Baishi, a self-taught artist known for his innovative approach to painting, is one of China’s preeminent twentieth-century ink painters. While most contemporary painters in the centuries-old literati (amateur scholar-artist) tradition presented lofty ideas through conventional depictions of landscapes, pine trees, and bamboo, Qi insisted on painting things close to his own experience, including objects and animals associated with the lives of farmers. He made full-scale paintings of rakes and brooms, freshwater shrimp in a rice paddy, newborn chicks in the farmyard,
and corn on the stalk—lowly subjects that had seldom appeared in the literati repertoire. His highly abbreviated brushwork, rich ink e ects, and unusual compositions lifted these subjects to the heights of literati art and made this highly re ned and intellectualized tradition accessible to
a larger audience. 

Subject matter
Lobsters.

Physical Description
Blank background. The painting depicts four lobsters, with calligraphic texts and seal on the right edge of the painting.

Primary Object Classification
Unbound Work

Primary Object Type
leaf

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
Caridea (infraorder)
calligraphy (process)