Shi Tao hua yulu 石濤畫語錄

Kugua Heshang hua yulu 苦瓜和尚畫語錄 "Monk Bitter Melon's sayings on painting", also called Shi Tao hua yulu 石濤畫語錄 "Shi Tao's sayings on painting" or simply Huayulu 畫語錄 or Huapu 畫譜 (in a slightly different version), is a book on painting written during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Shi Tao 石濤 (1642-1708), original name Zhu Ruoji 朱若極, style Taidizi 大滌子, Dungen 鈍根, Shi Daoren 石道人, Kugua Heshang 苦瓜和尚, Xiazunzhe 瞎尊者, Qingxiang Chenren 清湘陳人, Qingxiang Laoren 清湘老人, Xingxiang Yiren 清湘遺人 or Dingling Laoren 零丁老人, clerical name Yuanji 原濟 (also written 元濟) or Daoji 道濟, from Quanzhou 全州, Guangxi.

The preface is dated 1710. The book is divided into 18 chapters. The first four chapters focus on the theory of painting, offering insights into the principles of this kind of art. Chapters 5 to 17 discuss the arrangement of landscape painting, mood, brushwork, composition, and the relationship between painting and calligraphy. The final chapter discusses the development of creativity. The core of Shi Tao's theory is the concept of "unity in painting" (yi hua 一畫), which he considers to be the fundamental principle and law of everything in the world, including painting. If painting is understood from the perspective of "unity", art is interpreted as "coming from the heart or mind", and also that painting is "the great method of the world's adaptability or change". The author discusses the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, standards and freedom, inheritance and innovation, diversity and unity in the creation of landscape painting as based on the relationship between constancy and change, "all objects/beings" and "unity", "reception" and "insight". Shi points out the shortcomings of consuming the past without transforming it, and urges the painter to "borrow from the past to create a new present". The author thus contradicts the time-tested custom of imitating painters of the past without introducing new ideas.

The text is included in the series Zhaodai congshu xubian 昭代叢書續編, Lunhua jiyao 論畫輯要, Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書, Cuilangganguan congshu 翠瑯玕館叢書, Sitongguzhai lunhua ji 四銅鼓齋論畫集, Qingsouge duhua shiba zhong 清瘦閣讀畫十八種 and Hualun congkan 畫論叢刊.