'Too much likeness flatters the vulgar taste," said Qi Baishi, "too much unlikeness deceives the world." In the Chinese literati tradition, whose many intellectual ideals were developed by Su Shi, a satirical 11th-century Northern Song Dynasty poet, calligrapher and statesman, realism was considered a graceless pursuit.

With simple inked contours that lack shading and modeling, and a reserved color palette, Qi's "Feeding the Ear" (circa 1920-30), currently on show at Kyoto National Museum, clearly illustrates Su's philosophy. But the message of the painting itself, in which a figure holds a morsel of food pinched between chopsticks up to his ear, is a humorous warning against accepting the theories of others without thinking them over for oneself.

Through self-tutoring, Qi (1863-1957) rose from an agrarian background to be named "the people's artist" by Mao Zedong in 1953, making him arguably the most prominent figure in China's art world. His early years were spent as a carpenter, where he acquired the skill of painting through decorating woodwork. He also made an early living from seal-carving, which in turn nurtured a lifelong interest in calligraphy.