In 1962, his rocky landscapes become deep red. The mountains are powerful towers that occupy almost the whole picture, limiting the place left to the sky. Hanging scrolls displaying down to the valley are also a tradition in Chinese landscape art. Li is not missing it and his red mountains become a protection for the fertile valley and the small houses with white fronts.
An ink and color on paper 131 x 84 cm simply titled Red Mountains executed in 1964 was sold for RMB 293M including premium by Poly on 3 June 2012. This work includes a political refinement: the high mountain does not fully hide the view : the distant hills in the top left of the picture symbolize the unlimited future of Maoism.
On November 15 in Beijing, China Guardian sells Thousands of mountains in autumn, 76 x 46 cm, made in the same year in the same technique, lot 1237 estimated RMB 68M. Thousands of mountains, Qianshan in Chinese, is a localization of the landscape interpreted by the artist without a political meaning. The top left inscription is of course a reference to Mao.
SOLD for RMB yuan 184M including premium
Chinese ink masterpiece "Wan Shan Hong Bian" by Li Keran (1907-89) sells for $28m at #ChinaGuardian #chineseart pic.twitter.com/H0XiPeuLyF
— EpaiLive (@EpaiLive) November 18, 2015