The Immortal Li Tieguai
Qi Baishi Chinese
Not on view
Qi Baishi delighted in painting the Daoist immortal Li Tieguai, whose unkempt appearance made a ready match for Qi’s quick brushwork and casual control of saturation. This depiction of Li shows him squatting by a brazier, an unusual posture that Qi seems amused by in his inscription:
I wrote a poem about Li Tieguai [Iron-crutch Li]. It goes:
If I throw away my gourd and crutch,
Who will recognize me as an immortal?
In this painting I added a cinnabar stove. Li looks more like a hungry ghost.
Painted and inscribed by Baishi.
--Translation after Keita Itoh and Lawrence Wu
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