清季畫論與畫家的關係:繪畫思想及其論述形式之分析

摘要

Through an examination of the painting theories and discurisve format of three late Ch’ing texts on painting-Cheng Chi’s Meng-huan-chu hua-hsueh chien-ming, Sung Nien’s I-yuan lun-hua, and Tai I-heng’s Tsui-su-chai hua-chueh-this paper seeks to discern the reasons for the gradual loss of content that characterizes later Ch’ing painting discourse. Cheng Chi’s work, primarily an interpretation of landscape painting, expresses traditional notions of self-expression and differentiates, on formal grounds, various subject categories. Although the text is simply Cheng Chi’s personal reflections on painting, its arguments are all borrowed from earlier sources. The discussion found in the first and second sections of the text, entitiled General Theories (Tsung-lun pien) and Discourse on the Ancients (Shu-ku pien), respectively, is based on standard theories elaborated in earlier texts on painting. The final section, in which Cheng Chi’s does discuss his own personal artistic experiences, represents one of the few truly incisive late Ch’ing’s contributions to painting discourse. Sung Nien and Tai I-heng both focus on the training process, with set phrases for easy memorization. The texts are entirely focused on technical aspects of painting, and thus offered late Ch’ing painters nothing in the way of unified thory. In sum, they are void of theoretical creativity.