Shitao

[1] Born in the Quanzhou County in Guangxi province, Shitao was a member of the royal house descended from the elder brother of Zhu Yuanzhang.

[3] Among the most commonly used names were Shitao (Stone Wave – 石涛), Daoji (道濟; Tao-chi), Kugua Heshang (Bitter Gourd Monk – 苦瓜和尚), Yuan Ji (Origin of Salvation – 原濟), Xia Zunzhe (Honorable Blind One – 瞎尊者, blind to worldly desires), Da Dizi (The Cleansed One – 大滌子).

Imitation was valued over innovation, and although Shitao was clearly influenced by his predecessors (namely Ni Zan and Li Yong), his art breaks with theirs in several new and fascinating ways.

His formal innovations in depiction include drawing attention to the act of painting itself through his use of washes and bold, impressionistic brushstrokes, as well as an interest in subjective perspective and the use of negative or white space to suggest distance.

'"[5][note 1] Shitao wrote several theoretical works, including Sayings on Painting from Monk Bitter Gourd (Kugua Heshang).

A monk stands placidly on a boat that floats along the Qin-Huai river, staring up in admiration at the genuflecting stone giant.

The economy of respect that circulates between man and nature is explored here in a sophisticated style reminiscent of surrealism or magical realism, and bordering on the absurd.

Re-presentation itself is the only way the feeling of mutual respect that Shitao depicts in this painting could be communicated; the subject of a personified mountain simply defies anything simpler.