QI BAISHI (1863-1957)
Loofah
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
67.8 x 33.8 cm. (26 ³⁄₄ x 13 ¹⁄₄ in.)
Inscribed and signed, with one seal of the artist

Gift from the artist to Nicolas Guillen in 1952.
Acquired directly by the current owner from Guillen’s descendants.

Celebrated as the national poet of Cuba and a member of the World Peace Council since its inception in 1949, Nicolas Guillen (1902-1989) was a prominent writer, poet, journalist and social activist whose ties with the Council brought him to China in the early 1950s. On 25 January 1952, Guillen embarked on the Trans-Siberian train from Moscow to China. During this trip, he became acquainted with the writer Guo Moruo (1892-1978), who introduced him to Qi Baishi. The two works were presented to Guillen by the artist as gifts in his studio. As a result of his meeting with Guillen, Qi became involved with the World Peace Council and in 1955 received the Council’s international award. Guillen visited China again in 1953 and gave a lecture on Jose Marti (1853-1898), hero of Cuba’s war of independence on the 100th anniversary of Marti’s birth. He returned to China again in 1959 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, when he was received by Mao Zedong. Guillen remains one of the best-known Latin American writers to Chinese readers today.