石涛画语录英译

“古人写树叶苔色，有深墨浓墨，成分字、个字、一字、品字、厶字，以至攒三聚五，梧叶、松叶、柏叶、柳叶等垂头、斜头诸叶，而形容树木、山色、风神态度。

 

吾则不然。点有风雪雨晴四时得宜点，有反正阴阳衬贴点，有夹水夹墨一气混杂点，有含苞藻丝璎珞连牵点，有空空阔阔干燥没味点，有有墨无墨飞白如烟点，有如焦似漆邋遢透明点。

 

更有两点，未肯向学人道破：有没天没地当头劈面点，有千岩万壑明净无一点。噫! 法无定相，气概成章耳。”

 

 

 

The ancients depicted leaves and moss in shades of deep ink and thick ink, forming characters like 分 (fen), 个 (ge), 一 (yi), 品 (pin), 厶 (si), or clustered in threes and fives—palm leaves, pine needles, cypress fronds, willow tendrils—some drooping, some slanting, all to capture the spirit of trees, mountains, and the essence of wind. But I am different.

My dots are suited to wind, snow, rain, or sun across the seasons. Some dots contrast light and dark, front and back; others blend water and ink in a single breath. Some resemble budding flowers, trailing algae, or dangling tassels; others stretch vast and barren, parched and flavorless. Some are inkless, like flying white strokes vanishing in mist; others are pitch-black yet translucent, like charred lacquer.

And there are two more dots I’ve yet to reveal to fellow scholars: the dot that strikes head-on, heedless of heaven or earth, and the dot of ten thousand cliffs—utterly clear, without a single mark. Ah! Method has no fixed form; it is the vigor that shapes the art.

读石涛 《赠刘石头山水图册》中画语，译录分享。

 Translating and Sharing Shi Tao's "Notes on Landscape Painting for Liu Shitou"