He Liangjun 何良俊 (1506–1573), On Painting: An Annotated Translation

Abstract

In The Collected Sayings from the Four Friends Studio, the sixteenth-century author He Liangjun’s two chapters on painting provides a detailed picture of how literati critics continued to construct artistic lineages and shape hierarchies of criteria for evaluating painting prior to Dong Qichang (1555­­–1636). Although this text has been widely quoted by art historians, its use has been highly selective, obscuring the larger textual context for He’s remarks. This annotated translation presents the sections on painting found in The Collected Sayings in its entirety. While He Liangjun’s discussion of painting can be repetitious, asynchronous, contradictory, and contains abrupt transitions between topics, clear themes and agendas emerge and are pivotal for the development of later painting theory and criticism.