Duck and Lotus

Shaded by a large lotus leaf, a solitary duck floats,head back, eyes closed, next to a bizarrely shaped rock;all are depicted in rich black ink. Although painted in 1996 this painting is an obvious reference to works by Zhu Da (1626–1725), the great individualist painter of the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911). The choice of topic and materials here would seem unusual for a painter known for his abstract expressionist oil paintings, yet this work falls well within the diverse styles practiced by John Way.

Way was born in Shanghai and at the age of ten began to study with the calligrapher Li Jian (1881–1956). Way had his first solo exhibition at the Shanghai Museum at age sixteen. In 1949 he moved to Hong Kong and began to study Western art. He later emigrated to the United States, where he began to create oil paintings in the abstract expressionist mode. He continues to create abstract expressionist oils as well as works in at least two other distinctive modes: Chinese paintings in ink on paper, most often in styles based on those of the eccentric painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Chinese calligraphy in ancient styles.