Qi Baishi collector Lee hopes to open museum

"Rooster" by Chinese artist Qi Baishi in Lee Seon-hee's collection / Courtesy of Lee Seon-hee

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Though not well known in Korea, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) is the pioneer of Chinese modern painting. Last year, a major Qi exhibition was held at the Seoul Calligraphy Art Museum at Seoul Arts Center, but only some 50 works from the Hunan Museum in China were on view, instead of covering the artist's whole career. Lee Seon-hee, a major Chinese art collector in Korea hopes to open a museum to showcase Qi's work.

Often dubbed as China's Picasso, Qi is known for simple yet powerful strokes portraying vibrant energy of animals and plants.

Lee said Qi's paintings reminded him of "cheong-hyang-ja-won," an idiom meaning how clean fragrances waft far way.

"Qi learned from nature, while other artists went abroad to study art. It makes him stand out," Lee said at an interview with The Korea Times at his office in southern Seoul.

Lee, an art aficionado, became interested in Qi and other Chinese artists' works in the late 1980s and early 90s. Lee purchased a bunch of Chinese paintings, including some 30 of Qi's works, in Taiwan in 1992.

"I always admired Qi's paintings and I felt like it was fate when I heard his paintings were available for sale," Lee said.

Chinese art collector Lee Seon-hee / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Qi was born in a farming family in Xiangtan, Hunan, and showed talent in literary and artistic skills at an early age. His experience growing up on the farm influenced Qi's work, portraying natural objects in an affectionate way.

He drew in a literary painting style, but included ordinary objects such as cabbages, carrots and grasshoppers, pushing the boundaries of the literati painting.

Qi traveled around China a few times and the landscapes he saw inspired Qi's artistic world. "His works are unpretentious and natural. He was taught by nature and it gave an unfathomable depth to his paintings," Lee explained.

Lee possesses some of Qi's rare large-scale paintings. "This rooster painting is over 2-meters-long and when you see it in person, you will be overwhelmed by the size and vitality of his strokes," the collector said. "Only a few of his large paintings survived and Chinese scholars are also interested in Qi's works in my collection."

Recently, a group of researchers from China specializing in Qi appraised Lee's collection. "The paintings were declared authentic and I hope to open a museum with my collection someday," Lee said. "China and Korea's official diplomatic relations began only about 26 years ago and we still have a long way to go. Qi is not well-known in Korea now, but I believe more people will recognize the value of Qi's works sooner or later.”

Lee also owns some 180 other Chinese artists' paintings and works of calligraphy in his collection.

"I love art and wish to share it with other people. That's why I want to establish a museum based on my collection. Some collectors prefer keeping the collection private, but I want to enjoy my collection with the public," he said.