Baishi momiao ("The Delicate Brush of Master Qi Baishi").

Beijing: Rongbaozhai,, 1959. The Chinese Picasso First edition, first printing, of this tribute to the brush of Qi Baishi (1864-1957), one of the "four great masters of 20th-century Chinese painting" (Perkins, p. 404). This is an outstanding example, scarce in this condition, of fine press publishing in 20th-century China. This album reproduces a suite of paintings executed by Qi in 1948, at the age of 88, for his dear friend and fellow master Xu Beihong (1895-1953). Qi and Xu first became associated in the 1920s, when the former's genius was yet to be truly appreciated, and Xu was instrumental in introducing Qi to China and the world, including through a 1933 landmark exhibition of modern Chinese painting in Paris. The present publication was a fitting tribute to the two men at a time when the art world was still lamenting their deaths. Qi remains one of the most sought-after artists of the last century. His works command extraordinary auction prices: in 2017, a set of 12 of his landscape paintings sold for $141 million in Beijing, setting a new record for Chinese artwork. Founded in 1894 on the legacy of a studio dating back to 1672, Rongbaozhai was at the forefront of fine press publishing in the People's Republic of China. It specialized (and continues to do so) in collectable art publications issued in small print-runs for a select political and cultural elite and for overseas sale to art connoisseurs, book collectors, and institutions. Quarto, concertina-style, pp. [24]. Original decorative silk brocade, brown-flecked xylographic title label on front board, cream endpapers, rear pastedown lettered in green. With 12 colour double-panel woodblock prints. Binding and prints bright, moderate foxing on couple of panels. A near-fine copy with the brocade beautifully preserved. Dorothy Perkins, Encyclopedia of China: History and Culture, 2013.