"dead Wood Takeishi," The Theme Of History

This paper tries to trace the history of old trees and bamboo and rock as one loved theme in Chinese literati painting.By in search of the understanding of later artist about Su Shih, we analysis the place of this theme in art history,in order to understand some special facet of Chinese literati painting.The central point is how old trees and bamboo and rock as one theme introduced into the outlook of literati, and why it became one way for them to take one part in painting,especially popular in the Yuan Dynasty. We concentrate on Su Shih, taking him as a standard form which the theme had its identity in the North Sung cultural atmosphere.We think that it is in Su Shih that a new theme came into being and provided an important theory basis for the development of Chinese literati painting.In search of the tradition and development of this theme, we take interest in some important concepts, such as the same roots between calligraphy and painting, ink play. This paper discusses these tow concept and their relations, then taking actual works of Chao Meng-fu(1254-1322), the Four Great Yuan Masters and Yun Shou-ping(1633-1690) as examples to review the working and development of the concepts. At last, we take Li Kan(1245-1320) as example to research the attitude of literati painters on representation and its inner problem.