A hot passion for cold reality

Exhibition reveals the snow-white world of a humble but brilliant ink artist, Lin Qi reports.

An exhibition will provide some cold comfort, literally, against the capital’s summer heat with its depictions of snowy landscapes. The Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy is currently hosting Incredible Xiaoke, until Sunday, to commemorate Li Xiaoke, a shuimo ink-water artist who died in April in Beijing at 76. He developed a passion for depicting snowy landscapes in a career spanning four decades.

The works on display show Beijing, where Li was brought up and lived most of his life; the Tibet autonomous region, which he traveled to every year since the late 1980s; and Huangshan Mountain in Anhui province, known for its spectacular views.

The exhibition highlights not only the purity and serenity of nature, but also pays tribute to an artist who was devoted to creation, and who was down-to-earth and happy with a low-profile and modest lifestyle, according to Wu Hongliang, head of Beijing Fine Art Academy.

Li was a son of Li Keran, one of the preeminent ink masters of 20th century China. He spent years accompanying his father on his travels and attending social events. After Li Keran died, Li Xiaoke helped his mother, Zou Peizhu, a sculptor in her own right, further study and preserve his father’s legacy.

Meanwhile, Li Xiaoke endeavored to form a distinctive approach to art on his own. He also took on students to enliven the highly expressive style of the mountain-and-water paintings opened up by Li Keran.

“Many people see Xiaoke as someone who was lucky to be the son of a master artist, and who grew up taking full advantage of his father’s fame and reputation,’’ says Wang Mingming, a longtime friend and colleague of Li Xiaoke at Beijing Fine Art Academy. “While those who have known him for decades, including me, are moved by his incredible spirit to carve his own niche in the world of art and his persistence to be independent of his family’s influence.”

Li Xiaoke joined the army after graduating from the High School Affiliated to Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. After he retired from the military, he became a factory worker. It was not until the early 1980s that he fully committed himself to ink-water painting.

“He knew he was expected by people to be the same accomplished artist as his late father. He was under huge pressure,” Wang says.

“Under this circumstance, Xiaoke came to realize that he had to find his own style. He needed to build his own ‘haven of ink and water’ with distinction.”

Li Xiaoke developed depictions of snow into a trademark of his work. He revisited the hutong, or alleyways — he grew up in a siheyuan (a traditional courtyard residence) located in a hutong in Beijing — to recollect childhood memories. The winter scenes of Beijing’s old city under his brushes, centuries-old architecture and dense trees, suggest the weight of history and a sense of solemnity.

Since the late 1980s, Li Xiaoke explored Tibet and other places also inhabited by Tibetan people, such as Gansu, Qinghai, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. He described them as “mysterious retreats that keep haunting one’s mind long after leaving”.

In Tibetan areas, Li Xiaoke felt relief from the pressure of coming from a prominent family. While he painted, he found it sacred and empowering, like a sort of pilgrimage, equally “tough and simple”, he said.

Wang says Li Xiaoke’s Tibet works capture the magnificence of the mountains and waters there, and the simplicity and physical strength of local people, adding that his paintings inspire an awe in the heart and mind of the viewer.

The exhibition also shows other iconic works by Li Xiaoke, including Huangshan Mountain, a monochromatic landscape painted before his death.

Li Xiaoke traveled to Huangshan, a renowned mountain in China, several times with his father, and observed him sketching at the site.

In this last work of his, Li Xiaoke showed a mastery of one of the basic techniques of classical Chinese painting, to delimit the outlines of subjects while capturing the spirit of nature and the universe, using no other hues but the color of ink.

“Looking at his paintings, we seem to see him walking in cold woods and deep mountains, or on the plateau; we seem to hear him praying to the deities, talking to himself, and chatting with friends,” Wu says.

“Underlying the chill, refreshing scenery of snow, we feel his burning enthusiasm.”

PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Snow-capped Palaces (left) and Snow in January, two ink-wash paintings by the late artist Li Xiaoke, are among his works that are on display as part of an ongoing exhibition, Incredible Xiaoke, at the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy.

Spirit of Meili, Left: A photo taken in 2013 shows Li Xiaoke during a visit to Meili Snow Mountain in Yunnan province. Above: a painting by Li, who developed depictions of snow into a trademark of his work, is also on show at the exhibition in Beijing.