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Lot Essay
This work, painted in 1958, depicts Kunming Lake in Beijing’s Summer Palace. Towering pines frame the lake, an arched bridge and the distant shore, while grey-tiled buildings and a lakeside path animate the foreground. Deep greens, grey-browns and blues are rendered in concise, varied brushwork, combining the chromatic depth of oil painting with the layered spatial rhythms of Chinese landscape painting.
In 1958, Wu Zuoren became President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Despite his teaching and administrative responsibilities, he continued to paint in oils. As direct observation and painting from life gained prominence, the Summer Palace became a frequent subject for Beijing artists and Academy students. Li Keran repeatedly depicted its scenery during the 1950s, reflecting its importance in explorations of modern landscape painting. Compared with Wu’s better-known figure, frontier and construction subjects, his Summer Palace oils are rarely seen. Translating the spatial poetry of the Chinese garden into oil, this work exemplifies the increasingly concise and expressive character of his late 1950s painting and provides an important record of his Beijing landscapes.
In 1958, Wu Zuoren became President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Despite his teaching and administrative responsibilities, he continued to paint in oils. As direct observation and painting from life gained prominence, the Summer Palace became a frequent subject for Beijing artists and Academy students. Li Keran repeatedly depicted its scenery during the 1950s, reflecting its importance in explorations of modern landscape painting. Compared with Wu’s better-known figure, frontier and construction subjects, his Summer Palace oils are rarely seen. Translating the spatial poetry of the Chinese garden into oil, this work exemplifies the increasingly concise and expressive character of his late 1950s painting and provides an important record of his Beijing landscapes.