Three Immortals

Giclee Print on Mounted Canvas
Edition of 300 S/N
Image: 20″ x 20″
$250

This is very different subject matter for me, although I have painted Oriental porcelain figurines before. A friend and patron asked me to think about painting an Oriental-themed piece for her new house. She had seen an earlier piece called “Two Immortals,” and liked it very much. Unfortunately for her but fortunately for me, another patron of mine bought that one the first time it was shown in a gallery.

Like many of my still life paintings of very expensive objects, I painted both of these pieces from photos which I shot at antique shows. I did a little research on Chinese ‘Immortals’ (gods), of which there are about a dozen. Different artists represented them in different ways, depending on the respective artist’s style. Some are very colorful; others are done in just one or two colors. Most exhibit incredible detail, which, if you know my work, I appreciate. The “Three Immortals” in this piece were crafted sometime in the early part of the 19th Century. They are, from left to right, Tong Fang Shou, who is holding a peach which symbolizes immortality and longevity. The figure in the center is Shang Di, representing purity, and the figure on the right is We Di, the god of literature and patron of scholars. I feel a particular affinity for him because I majored in (American, not Chinese) Literature in college. Sometimes it seems like that was also back in the 19th Century!