Old plum
Qi Baishi Chinese
Not on view
Plum blossoms have served painters as emblems of regeneration since the Song period. Qi Baishi loved to paint them in several styles, including the bright colors favored by Wu Changshuo. Here however, Qi depicts the plum tree, its upward trunk and hanging branches in calligraphic strokes of somber ink. Trailing down the page like branches are lines of verse in which Qi expresses the sentiment of a great old tree:
Even when its branches droop with age,
It wishes not to be looked down upon.
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