The Growth Of The Su Shi's Ink-bamboo System

Ink-bamboo is one of the most important subjects of Chinese literati painting. The Chinese scholar-painter was more interested in individual expression and learning than in outward representation and immediate visual appeal. Under the influence of the painter called Wen Tong of Northern Song Dynasty(960-1127), Su Shi ,the best known intellectual of his time, established the Ink-bamboo system which came down through history to the present time. But under special conditions, during the final phase of Northern Song and Southern Song(l 127-1279) Period, Su Shi's thinking of literati painting couldn't grow. Wang Tingyun, a scholar-painter who perpetuated the ideas of Su Shi and his circle, was the most prominent artist of the Jin Period(l 115-1234).After Su Shi, Wang Tingyun's painting of Bamboo is the best known Scholar's subject. Wang influenced the literati painting of initial stages of the Yuan Dynasty(1271-1368).This paper will explain the course of growth of Su Shi's ideas on Ink-bamboo. The text will start with Wang Tingyun's Mo-Zhu-Ku-Cha-Tu(Ink-Bamboo and Withered Old Tree).The subject matter will also review the history of Ink-bamboo painting before Su Shi.