花鳥果蟲竹

「丁公推崇八大致極，其早年的花鳥走獸，受八大影響頗深，甚至有『九大山人』之稱。」

——陳松江，〈丁衍庸先生與我〉（1963年）

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「八大用筆，寥寥數筆，使物象形神畢具，了無遺憾，皆因平時觀察物象精到，表現力特強。」——丁衍庸（1970年代）

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「蘇東坡題文同《竹》，有『竹如篆隸，字如行雲，詩如鼓琴』，把整幅畫面的詩、書、畫配合得好似一曲凱歌一樣，使繪畫加強本身的力量和壯闊了它的範疇，境界自然崇高了起來。」

——丁衍庸，〈中國水墨畫的演變〉（1972年）

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「丁衍庸逸筆草草，源自八大，不落俗套，運筆布墨，以快見長。每作一圖，瞬息立就，純乎士夫本色，作畫不拘形似，意酣便足。 全寫性靈，務求適意，純為士夫真筆墨，頗見高潔胸懷。」——《現代畫家傳》（1989年）

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“Master Ting most admired Bada Shanren. His early bird- and-flower paintings were made under Bada’s influence. He was even called the Jiuda Shanren (Bada Shanren literally means the Eighth villager; Jiuda Shanren means the Ninth Villager).”

—Chan Chung Kong, ‘Ting Yin Yung and I’ (1963)

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“Bada (Shanren) unapologetically used only a few brush strokes to make his paintings vivid and lively. This is done through his attention to detail and expressive brushstrokes.”

—Ting Yin Yung (1970s)

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“Su Dongpo commented on the ‘bamboo’ of Wentong, ‘bamboos are like seal script and clerical script, words like clouds and poems are written as if playing the guqin’. Poems, calligraphy and paintings are all orchestrated like a symphony, enhancing the strength of the painting and broadening its realm to the sublime.”

—Ting Yin Yung, ‘Evolution of Chinese ink paintings’ (1972)

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“These freehand brushstrokes, considered along with Ting Yin Yung’s entire artistic framework, are in the style of Bada Shanren, and are painted with great speed while never becoming unrefined. Each time he painted, he would work without hesitation, like a prototypical literatus. He was never concerned about the likeness but rather the spirit of the artwork . . . exclusively painting his soul and mind, so as to reach an optimal balance between universe and nature. His style is that of a true literatus, displaying his virtue and elegance.”

—Biography of Modern Painters (1989)