SHIH-T'AO

born 1641, Kuei-lin, Kwangsi province, China died c. 1720 Pinyin Shitao, also called Tao-chi Chinese painter and theoretician who was, with Chu Ta, one of the most famous of the Individualist painters in the early Ch'ing period. Like Chu Ta, Shih-t'ao was of the formerly imperial Ming line and became a Buddhist monk; but unlike Chu Ta he seems to have led a life typical of his class and birth. Although he spent most of his life in Kiangsu and Anhwei, he traveled extensively throughout China, and he knew a wide variety of learned individuals both inside and outside the Manchu court. He thus was very much the traditional Chinese gentleman, with little of the eccentricity that marked his older contemporary Chu Ta. His work, however, is as diverse in both style and interest as his life was; and it merits the term Individualist for the extraordinarily expressive range of the paintings. In distinct contrast to his contemporaries known as the orthodox masters (e.g., Wang Hui), he was far less tied to the imitation or inspiration of old masters; and, while he respected them, he saw ancient styles more as knowledge to be expanded than to be exploited. Shih-t'ao's quite independent spirit is also found within his theoretical writingssuch as the Hua-y lu (Comments on Painting); he speaks of a style of no style and the indicative importance of the single stroke.