He Baili (Paklee Ho, born 1945) is a prominent figure of the Lingnan School of Painting. He has loved painting since a very tender age and began studying Lingnan style painting with Wu Yuji, a pupil of Zhao Shao'ang. To maximize He's exposure to authentic calligraphy and painting, his father He Qiyuan always invited collectors and friends for gatherings of art appreciation. This paved the way for He's future collecting endeavours.
He Baili started to build his collection of Chinese painting while practising the art as an amateur painter. In 1966, at the age of 21, He held his debut solo exhibition. He was very honoured to have Zhang Daqian inscribe one of his paintings, which became the cover piece of his exhibition catalogue and the talk of the town. Since then, He changed his painting style to xieyi landscape in ink.
He Baili paints and so he collects, for he believes that good paintings impose positive impact on painters and improve the inner qualities of connoisseurs. Several paintings from He Baili's Zi Zaixuan Collection were offered in our May 2011 Auction.