Landscape of Tonglu

In 1955, a three-month long Czechoslovak Cultural Exhibition, one of the cultural exchange events between Czechoslovakia and China during the 1950s, was held in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangdong. This was the occasion where Li Keran met with one of the graphic designers of the exhibition and they became friends. This drawing was a gift from Li to his foreign friend, thence by descent to the present owner. This drawing has a very similar composition and colour tone of Li's Every Household in the Painted Screen, painted in 1954 (see illustration).