LI Keran was a master of the stone school of art in the 20^th Century and spent his life ¡°painting the landscape of motherland¡±. His works have always been the focal point of the market and sought after by the collectors.  In 1960s, LI Keran started to paint from nature. The elements in nature were refined and presented in the artist¡¯s manners of cracking, light and shadow, composition and his artistic conception, which had created a new artistic language.

The ¡°Landscape in Red¡± is a typical theme of the ¡°landscape after LI style¡±, which is a combination of elements in nature, the stone school of art and traditional Chinese painting. This work is also a summit of LI Keran¡¯s art and a perfect example of his artistic believes: ¡°Courage is the most valuable principle of art.¡± and ¡°The clich¨¦s must be thrown away.¡±  We believe that LI Keran¡¯s ¡°Landscape in Red¡± will become the focal point for the collectors in Poly Auction¡¯s 2012 spring sale.

¡°Landscape in Red¡± is a classic theme of the artist. According to the study of the well-known collector Mr. LIU Wenjie, between 1962 and 1964 LI Keran painted seven pieces of this theme. three of which are in large size. One of the three big paintings was collected by Beijing Fine Art Academy; another was ordered by Rongbaozhai for the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation of PRC; the third one is the ¡°Landscape in Red¡± presented in Poly Auction¡¯s 2012 spring sale. It is said that Li Keran once got 250 gram cinnabar used in the royal palace ---- the Forbidden City. The paint was used by the artist to paint four pieces of ¡°Landscape in Red¡±, and this piece of 1964 was the biggest one among them.

¡°Landscape in red, forests all dyed. Painting the poem of Chairman Mao in the Xishan Mountain of Beijing in the autumn of 1964, Keran¡± This painting was inspired by a sentence in Mao zedong¡¯s poem ¡°Qin-Yuan-Chun ¡¤ Changsha¡± written in 1925 and published in 1957: Looking at the landscape in red and the forests all dyed.

The appearance of LI Keran¡¯s series of ¡°Landscape in Red¡± on the market stood for some interesting coincidences. The first one was a painting in 1962, which appeared in 1999 in Gardian¡¯s autumn sale. At that time, the art market was shocked by the Asian financial crisis. With a starting price of 900,000 RMB, this painting was finally sold at a price of 4,070,000 RMB, which saved the downturn of the market. In the autumn of 2000, Rongbaozhai sold a smaller piece of ¡°Landscape in Red¡± (1964, 75.5¡Á46cm). Although the financial crisis had not stopped at that time, this painting achieved a surprisingly high price of 5,016,000 RMB. After that, the Chinese art market finally recovered from the financial crisis and the auction market saw another rise. The ¡°Landscape in Red¡± in Poly Auction¡¯s 2012 spring sale is four times larger than the piece sold by Guardian in 1999 and three times larger than the one sold by Rongbaozhai. As the largest piece that can be found on the market, the opportunity to see such a work is very rare. People in the field of art predict that the ¡°Landscape in Red¡± presented in Poly auction will be the solid base of the art market and bring another trend of rising to the market.

LI Keran  Landscape in Red

Estimate Price for Enquiries

Mounted  Ink and Color on Paper

1964

131¡Á84cm

Stamp£ºKeran

Inscription£ºLandscape in red, forests all dyed. Painting the poem of Chairman Mao in the Xishan Mountain of Beijing in the autumn of 1964, Keran.

Publication£º

1. P170-171, ¡°Keran of the Century ¡¤ Album of Painting for the 100^th Anniversary of LI Keran¡±£¬ JiLin Fine Arts Press£¬October, 2007.

2. P123£¬¡°The National Museum of China the series of the Masters in 20^th Century ¡ª¡ª The Art of LI Keran¡±£¬ LV Zhangsheng£¬Time Publishing and Media Co., Ltd., Anhui Fine Arts Press£¬March, 2011.

3. P47-67£¬¡°The Paintings and Calligraphy of Masters (26) ¡ª The Special Album of LI Keran¡¯s Landscape Painting¡±, XU Liping£¬Hongkong Hanmoxuan Press£¬1992.

4. P155£¬¡°The World of LI Keran¡±, WAN Qingli, Xizhitang Press£¬2000.