Li Keran (李可染; 1907-1989) Chinese traditional scroll painting, ink and color on paper laid to silk, hanging scroll. Signed.
A tranquil rendering of a two-tiered pavilion nestled between autumn trees and cliffside, by Li Keran (1907-1989). Li Keran is known for his practice of the guohua technique and taught this artform at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. His works were influenced by masters such as Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong. The pagoda is constructed of a couple eaves which cover the Taoist worshippers from the elements. Dark ink forms the surrounding tree trunk and limbs which hoist large gloms of soft foliage. A sheer vertical rock face consumes the background like a curtain blocks out the sun. In the upper left-hand corner three columns of semi-cursive characters can be found followed by a single red seal. Another red seal can be found in the bottom left corner placed right on top of the work.


Dimensions: Scroll Height: 85 3/4" Width: 27 1/2" Painting Height: 24 1/8" Width: 15 7/8"

PROVENANCE:
From the heirloom collections of Wu Guozhen (吳國楨; October 21, 1903-June 6, 1984) was a Chinese political figure and historian, government official who served as mayor of Hankow (1932-1938), mayor of Chung-king (1939-1941), political vice minister of foreign affairs (1943-45), mayor of Shanghai (1946-1948), and governor of Taiwan (1950-1952) and the former Chairman of Taiwan Provincial Government. He resigned in 1953 and went to the United States.

K.C. Wu lived in the United States where he served as professor of Chinese history at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia. During his time in the United States, he wrote various works, including a detailed analysis on Chinese culture in the context of mythology and early history in his book The Chinese Heritage.

Wu is remembered mainly for his vital role in the formation of a liberal modern Taiwan and his anti-communist beliefs typical of a member of Kuomintang, but he is also remembered for his brave anti-Kuomintang rhetoric and turbulent disagreements with the more Russian-styled second President of Taiwan.

The Collections of Wu Guozhen (吳國楨) presented and offered up to auctions
ON DAY-1: from Lot-97 through Lot-127, continued from Lot-219 through Lot-255.
ON DAY-2: from Lot-354 through Lot-377, continued from Lot-451 through Lot-480.


LOT NOTES:
Li Keran (李可染; 1907-1989) was a renowned contemporary Chinese painter. He was born on March 26, 1907 in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, as Li Yongshun, alias Sanqi (died December 5, 1989, Beijing) painter and art educator who was a prominent figure in 20th-century Chinese art. He developed a personal style of landscape painting that was based upon the emulation of both ancient and contemporary masters.
Li showed a gift for painting, calligraphy, and music as a child. When he was 13, he began to study landscape painting with a local painter. In 1923 he entered the Shanghai Art College, studying both traditional Chinese painting and Western art. It was during this period that Li attended three lectures given by Kang Youwei, who advocated learning from both Song academic painting and from the realistic tradition of the European Renaissance. Kang's ideal of merging Eastern and Western art to create a new century in Chinese painting inspired Li greatly and became his lifelong pursuit.
In the spring of 1929, Li was admitted as a postgraduate student at the Hangzhou National Art College, where he studied drawing and oil painting under the French teacher Andre Claoudit. During this period he developed a kind of abstract and structural style in his oil painting that showed the influence of German Expressionism. In 1932 he became a member of a leftist art organization, the Yiba Art Society. That same year he left school and returned to Xuzhou, where he had his first one-person exhibition.
From 1934 Li began to experiment with figure painting in ink and wash. During the period after the Sino-Japanese War, he began to paint cowboys and water buffalo, endowing this traditional subject matter with new significance by his use of an innovative technique of splashed ink. Appreciation of his work, especially his figure paintings, grew, and in 1946 he accepted an invitation by Xu Beihong to join the faculty of the Beijing National Art College. There the masters Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong became his mentors. Qi, fond of Li and his painting, applauded him as the most important painter in the post-Qianlong-JiaQing period.
After 1954 Li spent much time sketching from nature, claiming that drawing was the first step towards a reformation of Chinese painting. While he emulated ancient Chinese calligraphic traditions, his rigorous training in oil painting also taught him to apply Western elements, such as chiaroscuro, to his work. He is thus remembered as neither a traditionalist nor a reformist, but rather as a pioneer who blended these two trends in 20th-century Chinese art. In his later years, Li attracted many students and followers, who formed the Li School of the 1980s.

Natural imperfection on the medium (paper or silk), regardless from any major damages; includes light blooms, discoloration and minor fading. Consider normal due to the ages.

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