ABSTRACT
Chinese thought is further distinctive in highlighting painting's prominence among the arts of ethical self-examination and self-cultivation. This chapter explores a genre of painting that is especially central to China's literati tradition of self-cultivation and that is saliently somaesthetic: the genre of ink-wash painting which the Chinese call shuimo hua, a term more literally rendered as ink and water painting. It outlines the important somatic aspects of ink-wash painting and the close link of this genre to the art of calligraphy, through their shared use of brush, ink, and water and through their shared aesthetic views concerning the proper use of such media in making words and images. By means of the same calligraphic connection, the chapter explains how shuimo hua served the Confucian literati tradition as a form of self-cultivation. It discusses Benjamin Franklin's literary-graphic method of self-analysis and self-improvement. The chapter discusses some prominent examples of literati shuimo hua that demonstrate its use for self-expression and self-refinement.
