Li Keran

Li Keran (March 26, 1907- December 5, 1989), originally named Li Yongshun, was a prominent painter in modern China and a disciple of Qi Baishi. He was born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu.

Li Keran's landscape paintings emphasize creating something from scratch, and then reducing richness to simplicity, forming a linear brush and ink structure. After the 1950s, this structure transformed into a clustered brush and ink structure, with ink as the main element. The overall structure was simple yet rich in substance, thick and profound. He introduced the side light and backlight from Western painting into Chinese painting, making the works more spatially layered and voluminous, and creating a new pattern of Chinese landscape painting. His works not only reflect the profound traditional cultural heritage, but also incorporate modern concepts and realistic techniques, pursuing the perfection of the picture and a deep sense of history.

Li Keran's representative paintings include "Beautiful Scenery of the Li River", "Red Mountains Everywhere", "Jinggangshan" and so on. His works have repeatedly set high prices in domestic and international auctions, such as "A Thousand Rivers and Mountains" which sold for 207 million yuan at the 2019 Beijing Poly Autumn Auction. His artistic achievements have not only had a profound impact domestically, but also gained recognition internationally.

Li Keran has loved painting since childhood and started learning landscape painting at the age of 13. At the age of 43, he became a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. At the age of 49, he traveled tens of thousands of miles for sketching and began to revolutionize traditional Chinese landscape painting. At the age of 72, he served as Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association and President of the Chinese Painting Research Institute. In his later years, his brushwork became more mature and he excelled in painting landscapes, figures, and especially cows.