Qiu Shihua
Encyclopedia
Qiu Shihua is a notable Chinese landscape painter born 1940 in Zizhong, Sichuan
Province, China
. He lives and works in Beijing
and Shenzhen
.
; shan means mountain and shui water. The aim of traditional landscape painting was to create a harmonious union of these two elements.
Qiu Shihua was born in 1940 in Sichuan Province, but today lives and works in the new city of Beijing and Shenzhen. As one of the artists who enjoyed the privilege of foreign travel, he visited France in the 1980s and studied the works of the Impressionists
. Qiu underwent an incredible development in the course of the 1990s, moving from traditional landscape painting to find a very personal style. An un-trained eye might find in his work little more than an almost unmodulated white, but his minimalist style of painting has nothing in common with the forms of expression from Western art history. The paintings seem Impressionist, but the Impressionists’ ideals---the view from out-side, the pure appearance of the outside world on the retina—are the opposite of Qiu’s. Rather, he represents the landscape—or what is left of it—as an expression of the soul. Nor are his white paintings obligated to abstraction
or monochromatism
. Qiu certainly abstracts from reality, goes to the limits in reducing the recognizable world, but it is always there somewhere; all his pictures remain figurative
. They are radical within the category of landscape painting
. They follow no systematic, conceptual search for the fundamentals of painting, of the kind Robert Ryman
pursues in his works, for example. Qiu Shihua’s paintings originate in traditional Chinese landscape painting. They were initially done on paper, then paper mounted on canvas, and most recently, canvas (ungrounded or almost ungrounded). The formats grew and grew. Slightly speckled oil paint spreads out across the paper or canvas.
The painting seems to be behind a veil. The landscape reveals itself gradually to the concentrated and patient viewer: cliffs, water, and woodland. Like classical Chinese landscapes, Qiu Shihua’s pictures are exempt from the laws of central perspective
. There is no recognizable center, neither a horizontal nor a vertical axis, no left or right, perhaps not even an up and a down. In a few brief sentences the artist describes his “philosophy”—and in this case the term really is justified. “For me north, south, east, or west count for nothing, nor do red, yellow, or blue, and certainly not past, present, or future. With endless emptiness in the heart there is neither coming not going; they are one and the same. So are my works too: simple and pale, calm and empty. All being and non-being is hidden in them, completely self-contained. In the zero condition the original countenance of the soul reveals itself.” Like the old Chinese masters, Qiu paints an inner world. The atmospheric perspective invites the eyes to roam over emptiness, a roving that permits nothing more than a diaphanous, mystical presentiment of another world. “According to Qiu, his working process grounds on the premise of forgetting about such painterly matters as motive, technique, emotion, thus achieving pure sensuality in the void space from which the image must emerge rather than construct itself.” In their method, Qiu Shihua’s white paintings follow a tradition that goes back more than a thousand years, but in their appearance they seem radically modern, even provocative. They are timeless, offer a wealth of perceptive possibilities, and can be regarded as one of the most interesting and certainly least expected contributions to painting in the past ten to fifteen years.
His works have been exhibited in shows including the 48th Venice Biennale
, the 23rd São Paulo Art Biennial
, the Kunsthalle Basel
and the Exhibition "Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg" which has been shown in Europe and the U.S.A. Qiu Shihua is represented by Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne
.
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
Province, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. He lives and works in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
.
Life and work
This is classical Chinese landscape painting: drifting clouds, horizontally spreading fog banks forming empty spaces, precipitous cliffs and jagged crags, perhaps a few weather-beaten trees, a waterfall; water breaking on the rocks; ink that seems to cling organically to the paper, yet still appears liquid. The Chinese for landscape is shan-shuiShan shui
Shan shui refers to a style of Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form.-History:...
; shan means mountain and shui water. The aim of traditional landscape painting was to create a harmonious union of these two elements.
Qiu Shihua was born in 1940 in Sichuan Province, but today lives and works in the new city of Beijing and Shenzhen. As one of the artists who enjoyed the privilege of foreign travel, he visited France in the 1980s and studied the works of the Impressionists
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
. Qiu underwent an incredible development in the course of the 1990s, moving from traditional landscape painting to find a very personal style. An un-trained eye might find in his work little more than an almost unmodulated white, but his minimalist style of painting has nothing in common with the forms of expression from Western art history. The paintings seem Impressionist, but the Impressionists’ ideals---the view from out-side, the pure appearance of the outside world on the retina—are the opposite of Qiu’s. Rather, he represents the landscape—or what is left of it—as an expression of the soul. Nor are his white paintings obligated to abstraction
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
or monochromatism
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
. Qiu certainly abstracts from reality, goes to the limits in reducing the recognizable world, but it is always there somewhere; all his pictures remain figurative
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
. They are radical within the category of landscape painting
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...
. They follow no systematic, conceptual search for the fundamentals of painting, of the kind Robert Ryman
Robert Ryman
Robert Ryman is an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He is best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lives and works in New York.-Early life and career:...
pursues in his works, for example. Qiu Shihua’s paintings originate in traditional Chinese landscape painting. They were initially done on paper, then paper mounted on canvas, and most recently, canvas (ungrounded or almost ungrounded). The formats grew and grew. Slightly speckled oil paint spreads out across the paper or canvas.
The painting seems to be behind a veil. The landscape reveals itself gradually to the concentrated and patient viewer: cliffs, water, and woodland. Like classical Chinese landscapes, Qiu Shihua’s pictures are exempt from the laws of central perspective
Perspective (graphical)
Perspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is seen by the eye...
. There is no recognizable center, neither a horizontal nor a vertical axis, no left or right, perhaps not even an up and a down. In a few brief sentences the artist describes his “philosophy”—and in this case the term really is justified. “For me north, south, east, or west count for nothing, nor do red, yellow, or blue, and certainly not past, present, or future. With endless emptiness in the heart there is neither coming not going; they are one and the same. So are my works too: simple and pale, calm and empty. All being and non-being is hidden in them, completely self-contained. In the zero condition the original countenance of the soul reveals itself.” Like the old Chinese masters, Qiu paints an inner world. The atmospheric perspective invites the eyes to roam over emptiness, a roving that permits nothing more than a diaphanous, mystical presentiment of another world. “According to Qiu, his working process grounds on the premise of forgetting about such painterly matters as motive, technique, emotion, thus achieving pure sensuality in the void space from which the image must emerge rather than construct itself.” In their method, Qiu Shihua’s white paintings follow a tradition that goes back more than a thousand years, but in their appearance they seem radically modern, even provocative. They are timeless, offer a wealth of perceptive possibilities, and can be regarded as one of the most interesting and certainly least expected contributions to painting in the past ten to fifteen years.
His works have been exhibited in shows including the 48th Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, the 23rd São Paulo Art Biennial
São Paulo Art Biennial
The São Paulo Art Biennial was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial , which serves as its role model....
, the Kunsthalle Basel
Kunsthalle Basel
Since opening in 1872, Kunsthalle Basel has examined various positions concerning contemporary art. This renowned exhibition space in the Swiss city of Basel has a very long tradition of supporting avant-garde artists and expanding the accepted boundaries of contemporary art. Contemporary art...
and the Exhibition "Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg" which has been shown in Europe and the U.S.A. Qiu Shihua is represented by Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne
Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne
Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne is a contemporary art gallery in Beijing which has established a major international reputation for its engagement in showing emerging Chinese contemporary artists and positions from Europe in various mediums, such as painting, photography, video, sculpture and...
.
Publications
- Kunsthalle Basel (Ed.) (1999). Qui Shi-hua. Basel: Schwabe & Co. AG Verlag.
- Mao, C. W. (Ed.). (2005). Insight. Paintings by Qiu Shihua. New York: Chambers Fine Art.
- Galerie Rudolfinum (Ed.) (2000). Qiu Shi-hua. Landscape Painting. Prague.
Selected Bibliography
- Berswordt-Wallrabe, S. von (2010). Qiu Shihua. In: Weltsichten. Landschaft in der Kunst seit dem 17. Jahrhundert (Catalogue Situation Kunst Bochum, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Museum Wiesbaden, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht). Cologne: Wienand Verlag. pp. 260–262, 327.
- Gerlach, P. (2007). Qiu Shihua. In: Idylle. Traum und Trugschluss Idyll. Illusion and Delusion (Catalogue, Zybok, O. Ed.). Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag. pp. 204–207.
- Rasche, S. (2007). White Out – Künstlerische Expeditionen in ungesicherte Bereiche. In: White Out (Catalogue). Bregenz: Berufsvereinigung Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler Vorarlberg. pp. 34–36, 75.
- Tinari, P. (2007). Qiu Shihua. In: China Art Book. The 80 most renowned Chinese artists. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag. pp. 296–303.
- Köppel-Yang, M. (1999). Qiu Shi-hua. Geschmack an der Fadheit. In: Qui Shi-hua (Kunsthalle Basel, Ed.). Basel: Schwabe & Co. AG Verlag.
- Tancock, J. (2005). Qiu Shi-hua. In: Insight. Paintings by Qiu Shihua (Catalogue, Mao, C. W., Ed.). New York: Chambers Fine Art.
- Lai Chi-Tim (2000). The Nature of the Dao. In: Qiu Shi-hua. Landscape Painting. Prague: Galerie Rudolfinum. pp. 7–9.
- Yan Shanchun (2000). ‘Landscape’ Painting in the Eyes of the Chinese. In: Qiu Shi-hua. Landscape Painting. Prague: Galerie Rudolfinum. pp. 11–21.
- Chang Tsong-zung (2000). The Sky in the Landscape. In: Qiu Shi-hua. Landscape Painting. Prague: Galerie Rudolfinum. pp. 23–30.
- Wechsler, M. (1999). Malerei am äussersten Rand. Langsamkeit der Malerei. In extremis. In: Qui Shi-hua (Kunsthalle Basel, Ed.). Basel: Schwabe & Co. AG Verlag.