Signature works

Paintings by landscape master Li Keran (1907-89), created between 1940 and 1980, are now on display at the Beijing Fine Art Academy. Exhibits include 108 Chinese paintings and 13 watercolors, which have all been donated by Li's family.

Doers Win features mainly majestic mountains and torrential rivers. The famous water buffalo series of the artist are also on display.

All the Mountains Blanketed in Red, one of Li's representative Chinese paintings, captures the subtle hues of an unfolding autumn, and impress visitors with their unbridled composition and gorgeous colors. Slivers of water snake their way through the mountain woods, before falling down the slopes and joining the streams below. Houses nestled in a sea of red maples exude utter serenity.

Exhibits range from Li's early works such as Beauty with Paper Fan and Zhong Kui Escorting His Sister to his monumental works such as Mountain City of Chongqing in Sunset, Terrace on the Mountaintop, and Lijiang River in the Rain, revealing his changing painting style.

Li is renowned as both a painter and as an art educator. Using ink and wash as his media, he developed a personal style that blended Western chiaroscuro techniques into his creations.

Born in Xuzhou of Jiangsu province, Li began his art career at the age of 13 under the tutelage of a local painter. Later, he enrolled in the Shanghai Art School and then did his post-graduation from the Hangzhou National Art College. He was also apprenticed to eminent painters Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong who exerted much influence on his painting style.

Li greatly respected nature and showed this in his bold and distinctive approach.

9 am-5 pm, June 1-17. Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy, 1 Liulitun Beili, Chaoyang district. 6507-1285

北京画院美术馆, 朝阳区六里屯北里1号