Likeness and Unlikeness: A Selection of Works by Qi Baishi

Hong Kong Museum of Art

Tomorrow to November 26

A collector's favourite, Chinese ink master Qi Baishi is renowned for a painting style characterised by free and powerful brushwork, with strong colours and a succinct composition. His landscapes, flowers, birds, insects, crabs and shrimps are instantly recognisable.

Although Qi's paintings feature regularly in exhibitions, Likeness and Unlikeness, which opens at the Hong Kong Museum of Art tomorrow, is unusual because it includes some of his earliest and rarely seen works - and it includes a section about a trip Qi made to Hong Kong in 1909.

Curator Szeto Yuen-kit says the new exhibition showcasing about 80 Qi paintings and artefacts from the Liaoning Provincial Museum collection has artistic and historical value. 'We've selected works of the finest quality,' he says. 'Ones that illustrate Qi's distinctive style.'

The Liaoning Provincial Museum has such an impressive collection of Qi's works because of personal links with the painter: his son, Qi Liangkun, worked at the museum, as did the grandson of Qi's teacher, Hu Qinyuan.

Although the exhibition focuses on Qi's early works, it's a comprehensive retrospective of his art, including ink paintings, calligraphy and seals.