Municipal Academic Conference Event

　　Time: 2:00 PM, September 30, 2020
　　Keynote Speaker: Zhang Tao (Associate Professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Supervisor of Master’s Students)
　　Lecture Content: “From the Late Qing Dynasty to the May Fourth Movement—The Distorted Mentalities and Freehand Spirit in Qi Baishi’s Figure Paintings”

　　Teacher Zhang Tao’s lecture unfolded on two levels. First, it analyzed the sources of Qi Baishi’s early studies in figure painting: the spread and limitations of photography in China; the overlooked influence of Que Wenshan in the Huxiang region as documented in art history; the freehand imitation and emulation of Yangzhou painters from the mid-Qing dynasty; the liberation of individuality and growing self-awareness among modern painters; and the “abnormal” mentality embodied in Qi Baishi’s depiction of the subject “Li Tieguai.” The second part focused on the driving forces behind Qi Baishi’s “transformation in his later years.” It was precisely because of factors such as the flourishing of “vernacular literature” and “folklore studies” brought about by the May Fourth New Cultural Movement that the cultural elite began to look downward, rediscovering folk wisdom and enabling even the language spoken by “peddlers and street vendors” to gain entry into the “sacred halls of academia and the arts.” Only by placing Qi Baishi within the historical context of the May Fourth New Cultural Movement can we gain a deeper understanding of the source of his unwavering confidence when he solemnly declared, “Yet five hundred years hence, when my coffin is closed, history will surely render its fair judgment.”