The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 29, 2026

A vertically oriented woodcut print in high-contrast black ink depicts Lu Xun standing behind a desk. Composed of stark, angular lines, he holds a smoking cigar while resting one hand on an open book. Stacks of books and a wicker chair frame him, with packed bookshelves and a small framed picture in the background. Handwritten Chinese calligraphy and the date 1974 are inscribed below the image against the white paper.

Lu Xun

1974

Li Yitai

(Chinese, b. 1944)
China
Woodcut; oil-based ink on paper
Print only: 45.5 x 47 cm (17 15/16 x 18 1/2 in.); Paper: 53.5 x 55.3 cm (21 1/16 x 21 3/4 in.)
Purchase from the Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2026.26
© Li Yitai
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The framed picture behind Lu Xun can be identified as an etching by the German artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), titled The Outbreak, which shows a woman raising her arms to lead the outbreak of a peasant war.

Description

The woodcut depicts the writer and reformer Lu Xun (1881–1936), who saw the pictorial print as an ideal medium and new artistic form to address the illiterate population and to express the need for social reforms and national salvation. A framed engraving, Uprise (1902) by German artist Käthe Kollwitz, hangs in the background, and the book Das Kapital by the revolutionary Karl Marx lies on the writing desk, both sources of inspiration for Lu Xun.
  • 1974–2026
    Collection of the Artist
    2026–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Lu Xun|url=false|author=Li Yitai|year=1974|access-date=29 August 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2026.26