LIU DAN, B. 1953LANDSCAPE |

blue pencil on paperExecuted in 1997.

Collection of Jana Volf.

This exquisite and extremely rare drawing of a landscape by Liu Dan was executed using a blue pencil given to him by the owner of the drawing. It belongs to a very small group of drawings by the artist, who used blue pencil for a very brief period.Liu Dan is known to have made small preparatory drawings for his major works, including Splendour of Heaven and Earth, exhibited in China Without Borders: An Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, Sotheby's New York, 2001, pp. 72-73 (figs 1 and 2), and these drawings seldom appear on the market. He rarely produces pencil drawings without intending them as painting studies. This small and gentle yet striking landscape, brilliantly expressed with the finest lines and nuances of tones, stands out as a singular work for its own sake and not necessarily as a precursor of another work to come.