The Immortal Li Tieguai
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
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
Artwork Details
- 清/現代 齊白石 仙人李鐵拐圖 軸
- Title: The Immortal Li Tieguai
- Artist: Qi Baishi (Chinese, 1864–1957)
- Date: undated
- Culture: China
- Medium: Framed hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 33 3/4 × 22 1/2 in. (85.8 × 57.2 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Bequest of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, 2014
- Object Number: 2019.290.5
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Qi Baishi
20th century
Qi Baishi
20th century
Qi Baishi
20th century
Qi Baishi
dated 1920
Qi Baishi
undated
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