Oil on fiberboard

61 x 45 cm. 24 x 17 7/8 in.

Signed in English and dated on upper right

LITERATURE
2003, The Beauty of Imagery: Ting Yinyung's Painting Art, History Museum, Taipei, p. 163
2020, Ting Yinyung Catalogue Raisonné: Oil Paintings, Rita Wong, The Li-Ching Cultrual and Educational Foundation, Taipei, p.281
EXHIBITED
5 Aug – 21 Sep 2003, The Beauty of Imagery: Ting Yinyung's Painting Art, History Museum, Taipei

PROVENANCE
29 Oct 2012, Chengxuan Beijing Autumn Auctions, Lot 608
Important Private Collection, Asia

Vivid and Changeable, Imposing and Heroic
Ting Yinyung Operatic Figure Masterpiece – King of West-Chu

Where Ting Yinyung differs from many of the oil painters from his generation who were influenced by Western artistic expressionism is that he did not come to the West through traditional painting, but was immersed in Western expressionism from an early age. At 18-years-old Ting went to study in Japan, where he was deeply influenced by the color expressiveness of the Impressionist, post-Impressionists and Fauvist schools. After returning home he devoted himself to actively developing a cross-medium approach to oil painting and ink painting. At the same time as promoting the Fauvist School in China, Ting also suggested the importance of exploring one's cultural roots to develop an artistic vocabulary that incorporated the strengths of the past and present, as well as Eastern and Western features. This made him a key advocate for the Western Painting Movement in the early national building years of the People's Republic of China.

After 1949, Ting lived in Hong Kong and despite focusing on ink painting never stopped exploring oil painting expression. Indeed, he took the many years of ink painting teaching, the influences on his creative work from such literati painters as Bada Shanren (1626-1705) Shi Tao (1642-1707) and Jin Nong (1687-1763), as well as his understanding of calligraphic Chinese character structure and incorporated these into his oil color expressionism. In later years Ting's brushwork finally achieved the maturity he had long sought, enabling him to create divinely inspired masterpieces.

Brimming with Energy: Interplay of Opera and Heavy Colors

Farewell My Concubine motifs appear numerous times in the freehand ink paintings of Ting Yinyung, but only seven of his oil paintings have operatic motifs. Given that less than 200 oil paintings by the artist are known to exist that makes this a particularly rare piece, which in turn highlights the value of the auctioned work King of West-Chu.

In King of West-Chu, Ting Yinyung takes a traditional context and imbues it with Fauvist School color “expressionism,” using fiery red-orange to highlight the straightforward boldness and charisma of Xiang Yu. This also showcases the influence of the post impressionist and Fauvist schools on Ting during his time at school in Japan, such as the importance of “subjective consciousness” and expression of strong colors. At the same time, the artist also abandons the two dimensional figures and decorative stylistic language of artists such as Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and others. Instead he takes the expressive power of color and combines it with ancient Eastern line tradition, tightly intertwining it with the emotions and qualities of the figures. In the painting, Ting uses eye-catching saturated red to emphasize the pridefulness, passion and desire for greatness of Xiang Yu. Moreover, the addition of yellow and orange, traditional colors that indicate elevated status allude to the identity of the figure. The use of a simple shape wherein color imbues the figure with meaning also represents an extension of features seen in his ink paintings from the 1960s and 1970s.

Whereas Xiang Yu and Consort Yu are depicted in traditional operas as inseparable, in King of West-Chu, the huge physique of Xiang dominates the scene, with “Consort Yu” boldly depicted naked next to him, establishing a clear visual contrast between the two figures. The latter is portrayed using simple blue ink strokes and is clearly the weaker of the two. In operas, Consort Yu finds herself in an impossible situation where she has to sacrifice her personal happiness in the interest of the nation, but in this work it is as if Ting sees what he himself has given up for art but rather uses it to make a breakthrough and remake tradition.

For Ting Yinyung reform did not simply mean the wholesale use of Western forms, these had to be grounded in a traditional cultural foundation, which is to say the freehand tradition of “ideas guiding the brush.” In order to achieve this effect, Ting takes the unadorned simplicity of Bada Shanren and the bold unconstrained spirit of Xu Wei (1521-1593) and through the application of color tension transforms them into the figures of Xiang Yu and Consort Yu in King of West-Chu. This showcases an artistic conception where “images resemble objects, the artist expresses himself through the object and simple strokes speak to profound meaning.”

Using the Past to Speak to the Present: Interplay of Painting and Calligraphy

In works by Ting Yinyung “lines” play the main role and in King of West-Chu he showcases the line appeal of “freely moving between East and West” together with the artistic spirit that informs “the shared origins painting and calligraphy.” Ting uses rapid brushstrokes to portray the thickset burly Xiang Yu and the self-contained unrestrained charm is akin to seeing colored calligraphy by Mi Fu (1051-1107). The unadorned abstract style overflows with simple life energy of the kind seen in primitive cave paintings, while the flowing lines draw attention to the alluring posture of “Consort Yu,” the thinned colors demonstrating the appeal of hardness and softness combined. As a result, the work is finished “in a flourish” which highlights the unconstrained nature of calligraphy, while the changes in color are a testament to the rich layering of oil painting language. This work differs from the combination of Eastern and Western elements in the operatic figures of Guan Liang and others. In the art of Ting, oil painting is not “subordinate to” the formal expression of traditional style, but rather retains its bright clear colors and thick compositional forms, representing a successful rebellion within the Western tradition, one that emphasizes the inner commonality of “lines” in oil painting and ink painting.

Pioneering Art: Unity of Spirit and Shapes

If we compare this work to the other oil paintings of operatic figures by Ting Yinyung, then in those pieces the figures depicted on a foundation of simple lines still retain the basic features of shapes. In King of West-Chu, the artist dispenses with established understanding of “type,” while also moving away from the careful and precise brushwork of calligraphy and the unitary background of literati painting. Ting uses lines that he characterized as even more unrestrained than those of Bada Shanren to offer a straightforward and powerful depiction of the fulsome bodies of the two figures. In this way, the two dimensional images are imbued with a cubist-like geometric abstract rhythm that is complemented by bold colors in a way that showcases Ting's tight control of style. In addition, the “upright” classical figure composition represents an extension of the artist's most iconic figure image feature. Indeed, the huge figures give viewers a visual feast on which to focus, while also creating a feeling of sensory oppression, imbuing them with the emotional resonance of a heroic spirit carrying a heavy burden. In this work, Ting adopts an approach that runs counter to that of literati painting which leaves large areas blank, choosing instead to magnify the size of Consort Yu and Xiang Yu, while building up a lofty heroic spirit reminiscent of a memorial. In this way, Ting Yinyung uses King of West-Chu to showcase his own reflections on such modern art discussions as “tradition and reform,” “mediums and materials.”

Price estimate:
HKD: 3,500,000 – 4,500,000
USD: 451,600 – 580,700

Auction Result:
HKD: 4,130,000