Ink and colour on paper

177 × 94 cm. 69 5/8 × 37 in.

Signed and dated in Chinese with two artist’s seals on upper right; stamped with an artist’s seal on bottom left

EXHIBITED
Feb 1974, Contemporary Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: An Exhibition Preview, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong
Jun 1974, Contemporary Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: An Exhibition, Yale University, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State University, and Dartmouth College, USA
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist by original collector
29 May 2006, Christie’s Hong Kong Spring Acutions, Lot 756
Acquire directly by present important private Asian collector from the above

Note: This work is accompanied by a titleslip.

Merging the West and the East, Maneuvering among the Ancient and the Modern
Ting Yinyung’s Superb Masterpieces of Figure Painting

“Form is something I desire, and spirit is also something I desire; but if I cannot have them both, I would give up the form for the spirit; epigraph is something I desire, and painting is also something I desire, yet I can give up neither.”
——Ting Yinyung

Under the influence of Western trends at a young age, Ting Yinyung was determined to innovate Chinese art through pursuing further studies abroad. He went to Japan to study Western painting for five years, during which the Impressionists, Fauvists, and Cubists influenced him. Ting was professional in free and vigorous brushwork as well as unconventional and rich colours. After returning to China, he actively promoted art innovation with Lin Fengmian, Guan Liang, and other modern Chinese artists. During this period, he became acquainted with traditional literary calligraphies and paintings by Bada Shanren, Xu Wei, and Shi Tao, etc. These masterpieces impressed him with the profoundness of Chinese ink painting and provoked his awareness of the localisation of Western painting styles. Ting did not blindly follow Western art trends, nor did he fully accept Chinese tradition without thinking of a breakthrough. He “searched for new knowledge and techniques from the Chinese art system and the spirit of the inherent Chinese culture” and practised the lines of traditional ink painting techniques to nourish his own creation.

In the 1940s, Ting moved to Hong Kong alone and lived a difficult life, but he did not succumb to fate and redoubled his efforts in creation. The Victorious General (Lot 61), painted in 1973, was Ting Yinyung’s masterpiece of large-scale ink figure painting. 1973 was the most active year of Ting’s later years, and an important period when his art achievements blossomed. In July, he was invited by the World Oriental Society to hold a solo exhibition in Paris, where he exhibited more than 150 ink paintings and fulfilled his long-cherished wish to appreciate the birthplace of the Fauvism in Europe. In September, Ting returned to Hong Kong and was invited to teach Chinese painting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The realization of his dream and the success in his career led to a renewed passion for creation in his later years, and painting became much handier to him.

Opera Figure: Monkey King (Lot 62), is another important ink painting by Ting Yinyung in the 1970s. This masterpiece once belonged to Zheng Song, a student of Ting and also an artist. It is particularly valuable as a record of the history of inheritance.

Praise the Virtue while Punishing the Villains
Deterrent the Enemy in All Directions

Theatre, film and television, the important components of Hong Kong people’s cultural life, have profoundly influenced Ting. He often connected the past with the present in a liberal, freehand manner, combining the exaggerated shapes of the fauvism with the flowing ink lines and washes to bring folkloric attributes to his figure paintings. The Victorious General is a convincing representation of his painting characteristics, which features a majestic general punishing the villains. The awe-inspiring general wears an iconic headdress lingzi (long pheasant tail feathers worn on warriors’ helmets), symbolising bravery and militancy in traditional operas and films. He holds a gun in his left hand and a dagger in his right, dressed in a red battle robe. Ting uses exaggerated manners to portray the general’s face: on top of the ink-rendered beard, red lines are drawn in primitive and rustic strokes; his eyes are depicted in heavy ink, and the pupils are punctuated with a small dot of ink, so that an angry and majestic general appears on the paper. In the lower right corner, another smaller figure cowering on his knees, with eyes open up, arms outstretched and palms clasped in prostration. His bright red tongue exposed as he pleads for mercy, demonstrating his fearful, humble and cowardly features. Ting dips into thick ink to create the dishevelled hair of the fleeing character in one stroke and renders his naked body in cuyan. A dramatic conflict is created between the warm and cold colours of the defeated man and the general. Ting Yinyung often represents the evil spirits in hell with cyan figures. In this work, he depicts the defeated figure like neither a human nor a ghost, jokingly criticizing his loss of humanity, and revealing the fierce conflict between good and evil, which strike chords with viewers.

In addition to the theatrical culture, the viewer can also see a more ancient and primitive cultural origin in this work. In the early days of his stay in Hong Kong, ancient relics became Ting’s spiritual support. Besides his collection of Bada Shanren’s paintings and old seals, he scrimped and saved to continue acquiring ancient porcelains, stone carvings, and other antique objects in Hong Kong. He studied them in depth, striving to blend the spirit of ancient Chinese art with the natural and pure painting concepts of the Fauvism from modern Western. The painting shows the general standing in an unadorned and powerful pose, making the viewers reminiscent of the ancient Chinese sculpture of the Vajra stepping on a ghost with angry eyes, symbolising the suppress of the evil. It is also interesting to note the breadth of Ting’s knowledge, and his skills in borrowing from various artistic sources.

The Birth of the Monkey King,Shaking Heaven and Earth

Opera Figure: Monkey King and The Victorious General share similarities in subject matters and compositions. Ting depicts the battle scene where the Monkey King wears armor and lingzi, highlighting his role as a prestigious general and indicating the heroic nature of “Qi Tian Da Sheng”, who is invincible in battle, punishing and eliminating the evil. On the left side of the painting is a nude clown. Ting applies the technique of “withered on top and moistened at the bottom,” vividly portraying the clown’s sweaty forehead hair, and the end of his bun in disarray during the battle. His right foot kicks to the Monkey King’s knee to make him fall, and his right hand drives a dagger straight into the latter’s right chest. However, the Monkey King is in a state of calmness, with his feet firmly straddling to support his body in an upright position. The Monkey King’s left and right hands, holding blades, thrust at the clown. The painting is framed at the enjoyable determining moment of victory or defeat. Unlike in The Victorious General, Ting uses cyan, a symbol of calmness, instead of ink to represent Monkey King’s muscular upper body. He is also similar in size to his enemy, making him an equal opponent. Ting Yinyung applies the dual artistic language of colour and shape to emphasize the hero’s bravery and composure in the moment of crisis, which makes the painting full of tension. With just a few strokes, he depicted a scene that is both bold and modern, while grounded in traditional Chinese culture.

Ting Yinyung’s childlike innocence in his old age is conveyed in these two paintings. He explores the modernized expression of Chinese painting through the subject matter of traditional opera figures, using his childish and sincere brushwork to express the primitive beauty of art. He is like a chivalrous expert who is free from gratitude and revenge, wandering in the vulgar world. Using his brush as a sword, he expresses his eulogization for the punishment of evil and praise of virtue with ease and verve ink splashes.

Price estimate:
HKD: 150,000 – 250,000
USD: 19,100 – 31,800

Auction Result:
HKD: 624,000