Ding Yanyong (1902–78)
The Eight Immortals 1978

This lively scroll depicting the eight legendary beings of Daoism who have attained immortality is typical of Ding’s individual and eccentric style of painting. The caricature figures, ebullient colours and the so-called quality of zhuo or ‘deliberate clumsiness’ are typical of Ding’s work. This scroll shows the influence of Western art, particularly of the Fauves and Matisse, with which Ding became familiar whilst studying at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. It is inscribed ‘painted by Ding Yanyong in the wuwu year’ (1978) and the poem describes the characteristics of each of the Eight Immortals.