Qi Baishi: A Master of Magical Ink and Brush

Lecture by Fan Jeremy Zhang, Barbara and Gerson Bakar Curator of Chinese Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

This is a hybrid event,  it will be held in person and streamed online.
Free and open to the public.

The USF Center for Asia Pacific Studies is excited to host Dr. Fan Jeremy Zhang for a curator talk on Qi Baishi’s traditional Chinese ink paintings. 

One of the most famous artists in modern China, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) is credited with transforming the traditional brush art of educated elites into an expressionistic and abstract form that speaks clearly to the modern era. Living in a time of civil and political strife, Qi rose from a humble origin in the rural south to a successful art leader renowned for his “Four Excellences” in traditional art—poetry, painting, calligraphy, and seal carving. Focusing on mundane objects and everyday life, his paintings of familiar subjects broke social and cultural barriers for a global audience. His lively and amusing figure portrayals, lifelike aquatic animal and insect paintings, and bold landscapes of vigorous brushwork, all demonstrate the unparalleled accomplishments and contributions of this “People’s Artist” in refashioning Chinese ink art during the twentieth century. Inspired by the Qi Baishi exhibition currently on view at the Asian Art Museum, this talk offers a good opportunity to better understand the art and life of this celebrated painter and appreciate his keen observation of nature and distinct vision of the world. 

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Fan Jeremy Zhang is the Barbara and Gerson Bakar curator of Chinese art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. He holds a Ph.D. from Brown University and an M.A. from Vanderbilt University, both in the History of Art and Archaeology. Dr. Zhang previously served as the Asian Art curator at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Florida and the Smith College Museum of Art in Massachusetts, successfully launching brand new Asian art galleries at both museums. He also held research positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum in Providence, and the Field Museum in Chicago. He has broad academic interests that include the material culture of China's conquest dynasties, Chinese ink painting, and the early history of East Asian art collections in North America. In the past decade, he successfully curated a series of special exhibitions on Asian art and edited their publications, including Phoenix Kingdoms: The Last Splendor of China’s Bronze Age (AAM, 2023), Royal Taste: The Art of Princely Courts in Fifteenth-Century China (Scala, 2015), and Collecting Art of Asia: Highlights of the Asian Collection at the Smith College Museum of Art (Smith College, 2013).  

Community Partners: Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, and Department of Art & Architecture