Li Keran

We authenticate, certify, issue certificates of authenticity (COA), appraise the value and broker the sale of paintings, water colours, and drawings by Li KERAN.

Chinese

Born in 1907, Xuzhou, China.

Died in 1989, Beijing, China, aged 82.

He spent all his life in China. He briefly lived in Shanghai and Hangzhou for his studies.

Typical Subject Matter:

He typically painted landscapes, which he observed closely, drawing on his experience of Western realist art and Chinese brush and ink painting. He also dedicated a major part of his life to depictions of Chinese history, aware of how much it had been marked by profound social changes. During his career, he painted a wide number of sketched figures with little detail, riding horned cows either swimming or walking. In addition, he worked for the Chinese government and created anti-Japanese posters during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Typical Style:

He was trained in the light of both traditional Chinese masters and Western modernist practices. He is renowned for having merged both these influences. His mature work is characterised by the layering of different layers of ink. In these, among which are many mountain landscapes, the white sheet is almost entirely covered by black, red, or green ink applied heavily and in washes. Waterfalls, houses, and trees are often treated as details, lost in the immense masses of colour that form the mountains, overlaid in vertical compositions that give a great sense of immensity.

His works that depict figures riding horses leave a greater amount of the paper blank, as a background.

His works typically feature calligraphic Chinese writings, gathered either on the left or top borders.

Typical Material and Media:

He first worked in oil on canvas, and from 1934, abandoned oil painting to work with ink and wash on paper.

If you own a painting, a watercolour, or a drawing by or attributed to Li Keran, we would like to learn about it. Please send us photos or contact us at [email protected]. You will generally receive a response within 24 hours.