Page 171 - Christie's Fine Chinese Modern and Contemporary Ink Paintings hk may 226 27 2021

Commemorating the fifteenth
anniversary of the founding of
the People’s Republic of China, Li
Keran painted Army Crossing the
Yangtze River as his interpretation
of Mao Zedong’s poetic lines
from “People’s Liberation Army’s
(PLA) Occupation of Nanjing.”
Li built up the tense mood
as the People’s Liberation Army
brave the storm and cross the
river, with the negative space Fig. 1 Yijiang Gate, Nanjing 圖1 南京挹江門
cutting through the composition
diagonally. The foreground shows the ships in full sail, almost as if captured in documentary
photographs. In the background, one can get a glimpse of Nanjing city in the mist, and the
northern gate (Fig. 1)—where the PLA entered the city—is partially visible. The ink-washed
evening sky contrasts sharply with the light-brown ships and orange-red flags. This painting
exemplifies Li Keran’s superior ability to use ink wash to create the atmosphere. By using ink of
various intensities, Li sculpted space, light and shadow with full vivacity. Such grand and touching
compositions have earned his war-themed works as some of the most representative Chinese
paintings of the 20th century.
Although Mao Zedong composed this poem immediately upon his victory in Nanjing, he did
not publish it until 1963. It was a year later that Li Keran painted the current work. Unlike his
other historical and revolutionary motifs, such as Jinggang Mountain and All the Mountains
Blanketed in Red, paintings depicting this decisive river battle are extremely rare. As we compare
with a work bearing the same title offered at Christie’s in 2019 (Fig. 2), the artist boldly removed
the mountainscape in the distant background of the current painting, so that the battleships and
the view of Nanjing city are diagonally opposing each other. By compressing the composition
with a reduced length, Li directs the viewers to focus entirely on the battle scene and reinforced
the tightened tension and atmosphere he built. While Li Keran painted the example from our
2019 auction in the Spring of 1964, we believe that the current work might be completed later
in the same year, as seen in his growing maturity and confidence in handling the subject matter.

《百萬雄師過大江》是李可染於建國十五周年之際，以毛澤東所作《七律·人民解放軍佔
領南京》詩意創作的革命歷史題材畫作。畫面取解放軍渡江的場面入畫，重在表現風雨飄
搖、激蕩磅礴的戰役氣氛。整幅取對角線構圖，近
景細描帆船，自右下角進入畫面，棕色的風帆迎風
鼓滿。江浪翻雪，煙雲一段橫截於中間，更多帆影
隱沒在蒼茫風雨之中，遠處則是虎踞龍蟠的南京城
若隱若現，北面門戶挹江門半露在視線中，解放軍
渡江後正是從此門入城（圖1）。畫家以水墨渲染
天空，漫天玄雲天色晦，南京城籠罩其中，與近景
中赭色船隻、紅色旗幟之奪目鮮明形成強烈對比。
李可染善用水墨渲染氣氛，整幅畫面在空間、氣氛
和光影上均達到了細緻入微、攝人心魄的境界，成
為以中國傳統水墨表現現代戰爭題材的經典之作。

《七律．人民解放軍佔領南京》原是毛澤東於戰役
結束後即席創作，但直到1963年才正式出版，李可
染此幅正創作於該詩發表翌年。不同於《井岡山》
及《萬山紅遍》等同類題材，本主題作品所見極
少，另幅作品由香港佳士得2019年拍出（圖2），
相較之下，本場此幅取偏方形構圖，將渡江船隊與
南京城置於對角線兩端，直接對立，更略去傳統遠
Fig.2. Li Keran, Army Crossing River,
Christie’s Fine 山背景，令觀者視線完全集中於渡江這一場景，氣
Chinese Modern Paintings, May 2019, Lot 1375 氛渲染似更勝一籌。2019年拍賣一幅創作於1964年
圖2 李可染，《百萬雄師過大江》，佳士得
中國近現代畫拍賣，2019年春，編號1375 春，本幅或許寫於稍後，畫家之思量應更為成熟。
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