Romance and reforms, an ink master revived tradition with great courage.

The year was 1956. Late ink artist Li Keran was painting by the scenic West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, when rain drops fell on the paper he was drawing on. The parts smudged by the rain didn't make Li panic, rather, gave him new ideas.

While he continued to blend the marks made by the raindrops into his layering and shading, he also felt that it was a clue, a sign from nature for him to reform the ink painting tradition.

Li was then in the middle of an ambitious project to invent new approaches to classic Chinese painting. He traveled extensively throughout the country in the 1950s to gather varying views, watch and imbibe different folk customs, and sketch outdoors.

The fruits of these journeys were a collection of paintings in which Li introduced a modern context to the centuries-old ink tradition, addressing new aesthetic demands.

Wandering in the Rain, an exhibition now on at the Shenzhen Art Museum, in Guangdong province, running until Feb 16, looks back on Li's courageous efforts at that time. The paintings are from the collection of the Li Keran Foundation in Beijing.

Li's works present a majestic and romantic mood that is different from those created by his predecessors in ancient times, for which he was judged by conservatives. His endeavors were also critiqued by those who then questioned whether ink art could be modernized.

But time has proved that Li's reforms have been highly recognized, and continue to inspire more followers.

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