Creation In October 1939, during his stay in Singapore,
Xu Beihong was inspired by a street drama performance titled
Put Down Your Whip by actress
Wang Ying, a friend of the artist. Written by
Chen Liting based on a play by
Tian Han, the drama depicts a girl and her father who escaped from the Japanese-occupied
Northeast China and performed in the streets for a living. They sang about the hardship under the
Japanese occupation and inspired their listeners to support the anti-Japanese war. Deeply moved by the drama, Xu spent ten days painting a life-size portrait of Wang with her audience in the background. He then titled the painting
Put Down Your Whip after the drama.
Auction Put Down Your Whip was sold on 7 April 2007 in an auction in Hong Kong by
Sotheby's for
HK$72 million (
US$9.2 million), setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a Chinese painting at an auction. The painting was bought by an anonymous collector over the telephone after competition from at least four other bidders. ==References==