Gao Qifeng

Gao Qifeng
高奇峰
Born	Gao Weng (高嵡) 13 June 1889 Panyu County, Guangdong, China
Died	2 November 1933(1933-11-02) (aged 44) Shanghai, China
Movement	Lingnan School
Relatives	Gao Jianfu (brother)
Chinese name
Chinese	高奇峰
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Gāo Qífēng Wade–Giles Kao1 Chʻi2-feng1

Gao Qifeng (Chinese: 高奇峰; pinyin: Gāo Qífēng; 13 June 1889 – November 1933) was a Chinese painter who co-founded the Lingnan School with his brother Gao Jianfu and fellow artist Chen Shuren.

Orphaned at a young age, Gao spent much of his early life following his brother, learning the techniques of Ju Lian before travelling to Tokyo to study Western and Japanese painting. While abroad, Gao joined the Tongmenghui, and after he returned to China he published The True Record to challenge the Qing dynasty and, later, the Beiyang government. Although offered a position in the new Republic of China, Gao chose to focus on his art. He moved to Guangzhou in 1918, taking a series of teaching positions that culminated with an honourary professorship at Lingnan University in 1925. Falling ill in 1929, Gao left the city for Ersha Island, where he established the Tianfang Studio.

In his painting, Gao blended traditional Chinese approaches with foreign ones, using Japanese techniques for light and shadow as well as Western understandings of geometry and perspective. Although he painted landscapes and figures, he is best recognized for his paintings of animals, particularly eagles, lions, and tigers. In his brushwork, he combined the vigour of his brother's technique with the elegance of Chen's. Gao taught numerous students, including Chao Shao-an and Huang Shaoqiang; he was particularly close to Zhang Kunyi, with whom he may have been romantically involved.

Gao was born Gao Weng (高嵡) in Yuangang Township, Panyu County, Guangdong,^[1] on 13 June 1889. The family was poor, and Gao's father Boxiang died in 1895; his mother followed two years later.^[2] Gao, a sickly child, was sent to live with a relative.^[2] One of six brothers,^[a] Gao ultimately became the ward of his older brother Jianfu and followed him into the arts.^[3]

In his youth, Gao learned the water infusion and "boneless" painting techniques employed by Ju Lian.^[2] However, sources disagree to the provenance of this knowledge. Gao Jianfu is known to have studied under Ju at his Xiaoyue Qin Pavilion,^[b] and thus he is often attributed as teaching them to his brother.^[4] Others have suggested that Gao Qifeng studied directly with Ju.^[c] No archival material has been found to support the latter scenario,^[5] and Ralph Croizier notes in his study of the Lingnan School that, if true, Gao studied under Ju only briefly.^[6]

Gao attended a Christian school by the age of fourteen,^[6] and later converted to Christianity. In the mid-1900s, he took an apprenticeship with Pastor Wu Shiqing, painting lampshades at his Yongming Zhai glass shop. He later worked with Wu's brother Jinghun to open another storefront.^[7] As an adult, he took the courtesy name Qifeng.^[1] On his early paintings, he used the art name Fei Pu (飞瀑), with Fei Pu Sketching on his seal.^[1]

In 1907, Gao travelled to Tokyo with his brother to further study art.^[8] While Jianfu was enrolled at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts,^[9] Gao became a student of Tanaka Raishō;^[8] he appears to have also drawn influence from nihonga artists such as Takeuchi Seihō and Hashimoto Kansetsu.^[10] Through his studies, Gao learned Western approaches to perspective and sketching^[8] and became familiar with the works of the Kyoto school. He developed a style that blended these various influences, seeking to combine the naturalism of Western art with the lyricism and philosophy of traditional Chinese painting.^[9]

After returning to China in 1908,^[8] the Gao brothers moved to Nanhai.^[11] Gao Qifeng became a teacher at the Nanhai Middle School, while also learning psychology and sociology, holding that the truth, goodness, and beauty of art could better address the human condition with insight into the problems of society.^[d] Teaching art, Gao believed, would allow the transmission of better understandings of ethics and social conditions.^[9] In 1908, he donated several paintings to a fundraiser for flooding victims in western Guangdong.^[12]

In Japan, the Gao brothers had joined the Tongmenghui, an organization established to overthrow the Qing dynasty.^[13] Gao Jianfu arranged the assassinations of several Qing leaders, with the death of Guangdong governor Feng Shan attributed to a painter whom he had recruited;^[13] Gao Qifeng may also have been involved in this cell,^[14] and his friend and fellow revolutionary Wang Jingwei recalled him sleeping soundly in a room full of explosives.^[15] After the 1911 Revolution, the brothers were offered positions in the new Republic of China by Sun Yat-sen, but declined.^[14]

Instead, the Gao brothers moved to Shanghai and established The True Record, a large-format magazine that consisted of pictures, paintings, cartoons, chronicle paintings, essays, reviews, and sketches.^[9] This nationalist magazine, subsidized in part by the new government,^[16] published seventeen issues between June 1912 and March 1913, with Gao Qifeng as the editor-in-chief.^[17] The Gaos believed that pictorials could best "arouse people's patriotic thoughts and support the order of social progress".^[e][14] In essays, the brothers called for the creation of a new approach to art, as well as improvements in art education; other parts of the magazine offered news and social commentary.^[13] They also decried the increasingly authoritarian Beiyang government.^[9]

Gao – writing with Xie Yingbo and Ma Xiaojin – published an article in 1913 implicating Provisional President Yuan Shikai in the assassination of nationalist leader Song Jiaoren. According to the writer Cai Dengshan [zh], Yuan thus issued a warrant for their arrest, and Gao began a self-imposed exile in Japan.^[9] This claim is not supported universally among scholars,^[f][14] though Gao is thought to have spent time learning woodblock printing in Japan.^[18] As the decade continued and China's nascent democracy devolved into corruption and warlordism, Gao Jianfu grew disenchanted with politics; the art critic Li Yuzhong suggests that Qifeng was likely influenced by his brother in this regard.^[14]

In the 1910s, the Gaos had established the Aesthetic Institute, a combined gallery, exhibition hall, and publishing house, in Shanghai.^[1] Through the bookstore, they sold reproductions of Chinese and Western paintings,^[14] including their own works.^[13] As the decade continued, Gao devoted himself exclusively to painting and teaching. He moved to Guangzhou in 1918 to lead the Art and Printmaking Department at the Class A Industrial School.^[19] He also established the Aesthetics Museum on Fuxue West Street,^[9] as well as the Chunshui Art Studio.^[20] In 1925, Gao was made an honourary professor at Lingnan University (now part of Sun Yat-sen University).^[18] He was provided land upon which he built a studio;^[9] according to the curator Christina Chu, these were his most productive years.^[21]

Through the 1920s, Gao gained increasing recognition for his artwork, and he frequently featured in The Young Companion, a bilingual pictorial magazine published in Shanghai.^[22] Prior to the construction of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Gao was asked to contribute three of his works: Sea Eagle (海鷹), White Horse in the Autumn River (秋江白馬), and Lion (雄獅); during his lifetime, Sun Yat-sen had expressed a fondness for these paintings,^[18] none of which has survived.^[23]

Around 1929, Gao fell ill with pneumonia^[24] and removed himself from the city to recover, being admitted to the Zhujiang Nursing Home on Ersha Island in the Pearl River.^[25] After a year, Gao was released, choosing to establish the Tianfang Studio^[g] on the island to continue his work. There, he taught numerous students, with the seven most famous becoming known as the Tianfeng Seven.^[9] However, Gao remained sickly, and his productivity suffered; he only made one trip, to Guilin in 1931, to find new inspirations and materials.^[26]

In 1933, the Chinesische Malerei der Gegenwart – an exhibition of Chinese art – was scheduled in Berlin.^[5] Gao was selected to represent as a government representative,^[h] and asked to travel to Shanghai for a preliminary meeting.^[18] On the ship from Guangzhou, Gao fell ill, and his fellow passenger Ye Gongchuo sought medical attention. Gao was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and after the ship arrived in Shanghai he was brought to Dahua Hospital.^[9] He died on 2 November 1933, aged 44. Before his death, he asked that his artworks be donated to museums and that his Tianfeng Pavilion art studio be maintained as the Qifeng Painting Academy.^[18]

Per Gao's request, funeral preparations were handled by his student Fan Tchunpi. A memorial service was held at the China Funeral Parlor on Haige Road (now Huashan Road), attended by artists such as Chen Shuren and Ye Gongchuo, as well as politicians such as Wang Jingwei, Cai Yuanpei, and Wu Tiecheng. Other tributes came from Sun Fo, Ju Zheng, and Zhang Ji.^[27] Gao's body was subsequently escorted by his student Zhang Kunyi to Guangdong, where he was interred at the Christian Cemetery in Henan; the national government contributed 2,000 yuan (equivalent to ¥186,000 in 2019) to cover expenses.^[14]

Zhang pushed for the state to give Gao recognition, finding support from numerous prominent politicians,^[28] including Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, and Yu Youren. They petitioned for Gao to be reinterred closer to the national capital in Nanjing, arguing that he deserved the recognition due to his contributions to the country as well as his artistic skill.^[14] This petition was heeded, and Gao was reinterred at Qixia Mountain on 27 December 1936. A mausoleum was erected, as was a marker bearing an inscription by then-President Lin Sen: "The Tomb of Mr. Gao Qifeng, the Sage of Painting".^[i][29]

Together with his brother Jianfu and fellow Ju Lian student Chen Shuren, Gao is recognized as a founder of the Lingnan School of painting.^[22] All three shared similar backgrounds, and drew on Western influences in their art,^[14] believing that synthesis was necessary to preserve Chinese tradition while creating a new "national painting" suited for modern times.^[30] Among Gao's students were Zhang Kunyi, Zhou Yifeng, Ye Shaobing, He Qiyuan, Rong Shushi, Huang Shaoqiang, and Chao Shao-an. These students, later known as the Tianfeng Seven as they had studied at the studio, continued to spread the influence of the Lingnan School.^[1] Several of them later settled in Hong Kong and Macau, bringing the school and its teachings to these territories.^[31]

Gao's elder brother Guantian had been a partner in the Aesthetic Institute, though he was not an artist.^[32] Another brother, Jianseng, travelled to Japan in 1911, and as with Qifeng and Jianfu developed a style that blended Japanese, Western, and traditional Chinese art.^[33] He died in 1916, having not gained the same prestige.^[34] Gao married the Suzhou-born Yang Cuixing in 1915, having a daughter named Liandi the following year. The marriage was ended in 1921, when Gao's wife took their daughter and left;^[12] Cai Dengshan attributes this to Gao devoting himself entirely toward art.^[9]

Gao had a close relationship with his student Zhang Kunyi, who has been described as his goddaughter^[35] or adopted daughter,^[9] but also rumoured to have been his lover.^[j][14] Gao dedicated several paintings to Zhang.^[36] She, meanwhile, lived with him, and after he became ill she tended to Gao, handled the housework, and studied art under him.^[9] Cai Dengshan writes that, after Gao's death, Zhang was so distraught that she mixed her tears with powder to paint plum blossoms, using her own blood for the sepals; he attributes this to filial piety.^[9] Gao Jianfu's student Zheng Danran recalled that the Gao brothers had a falling out, which he attributes to Qifeng's relationship with Zhang.^[14] In the 1940s, Zhang arranged for ninety of Gao's works to be brought on a touring exhibition through the United States and Canada.^[28]

Gao Qifeng had many similarities with Gao Jianfu and Chen Shuren, the other founders of the Lingnan School. All three had learned the techniques of Ju Lian, and all three had spent time in Japan learning Japanese and Western approaches to painting. Collectively, these artists sought a balance between innovation and tradition, absorbing new ideas while keeping Chinese techniques foundational.^[9] In their early years, the Gaos both drew extensively from contemporary Japanese art,^[37] with Croizier noting "strong stylistic evidence" that Gao Qifeng had attended the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition and imitated works presented therein.^[38]

However, they also had their own styles, with Chen remarking to Jianfu, "You partake of the strange and marvelous; I of the orthodox; Mr. Qifeng maintains a middle position."^[k][39] Cai Dengshan agrees, writing that, where Jianfu employed a majestic and innovative approach and Chen's style was dignified and elegant, Qifeng balanced the strengths of both of his peers.^[9] Similarly, Li notes that Gao blended the vigour of his brother's brushstrokes with the elegance of Chen's.^[14] Croizier writes that, of the three, Gao Qifeng was the most strongly influenced by their Japanese training, with a proclivity for broad ink washes and strong tonal contrasts reminiscent of the Shijō school.^[40]

Gao Qifeng's works tend to fetch higher prices than those of the other Lingnan masters. As of 2014^[update], his most expensive painting is Lion (雄狮, 1915), which was sold by China Guardian in 2010 for 6.72 million yuan (US$993,000).^[41] At Sotheby's Hong Kong in 2004, his Four Landscape Screens (山水四屏) sold for 3.982 million Hong Kong dollars (USD 511,300). That same year, Beijing Hanhai sold Gao's Pine and Monkey (松猿图) for 1.32 million yuan (USD 159,000).^[42] The higher auction prices of Gao's works may be attributed, at least in part, to the relative paucity of his works compared to those of his longer-lived peers.^[14]

Regarding his approach to painting, Gao narrated:

I [...] picked out the finest points of Western art, such as the masterful strokes of the pen, composition, inking, coloring, inspiring background, poetic romance, etc. and applied them to my Chinese techniques. In short, I tried to retain what was exquisite in the Chinese art of painting, and at the same time to adopt the best methods of composition which the world's art schools had to offer, thereby blending the East and the West into a harmonious whole.^[l][43]

As with his peers, Gao drew from diverse sources. His paintings show the influence of Ju Lian and his relative Chao, though not as prominently as in those of Gao Jianfu.^[1] These influences are most evident in his earliest works, which employ water infusion and the "boneless" technique while leaving the backgrounds as negative space.^[2] After his interactions with the nihonga school, Gao began to blend traditional Chinese approaches to painting with foreign ones, sketching his subjects before rendering them with ink and colour.^[8] His use of light and shadow reflects Japanese tradition, while his understandings of geometry and perspective draw from Western ones.^[1] Gao's later works employed a more freehand approach,^[8] with the paintings produced after his illness being described as direct and straightforward, with reduced narrative and little diversity in colour.^[9] According to Croizier, they appear rougher yet more intimate, with meticulous detail giving way to more spontaneous imagery.^[44]

Gao favoured vigorous yet delicate brushwork and vivid images, using these primarily to depict flora and fauna in a naturalistic manner; his depictions of eagles, lions, and tigers are particularly celebrated. Li suggests that Gao's angry lions and roaring tigers evoke a "bold and unyielding spirit",^[m][14] while Sun Yat-sen deemed his depictions of animals to reflect a revolutionary spirit.^[8] Croizier describes Gao as its premiere painter of tigers, employing a painstaking realism that implies a deep absorption of Meiji-era techniques,^[45] though he also showed great skill with large birds.^[46]

Landscapes and figures are also attested in Gao's oeuvre.^[8] Several works depict moonlit nights and winter snows, which Cai Dengshan describes as often having a "delicate, graceful, crystal clear, and clean charm".^[n][9] However, pure landscapes are rare, as Gao's images of trees and riverbanks are used as settings for animal subjects. "Boneless" colour washes are common in these works.^[47] His figures, meanwhile, are mostly religious; they include Taoist monks and Bodhidharma,^[48] though a portrait of the poet Li Bai after Liang Kai is known.^[21]

• 
  Deer (undated)
• 
  White Horse (undated)
• 
  Two Geese in Reed Fields (1916)
• 
  Snow in the Wu Ravine (1916)
• 
  Monkey on a Pine Tree (1917)
• 
  Pear Blossoms and Two Doves (1927)
• 
  Woodpecker (1927)
• 
  Angry Lion (1927)

• 高奇峰先生遺畫集 [Collected Paintings by the Late Gao Qifeng] (in Chinese). Shanghai: Min Xiang. 1935. OCLC 849043342.