All that has seen my painting works will comment in two different ways. One is ："They are totally different from traditional ones, which show both a traditional look and the personal style. They are so majestic and thick that can't be believed they are painted by a woman." The other is ："They are euphemistic, exquisite, abundant, gloomy and mysterious, but lack some masculine hard lines, which could be easily guessed that they are from a woman." After hearing all these comments I got confused with both joy and sadness. Do paintings have gender distinctions?
　　Everytime when someone comments that "my paintings are of women style", I got deeply confused: If we hadn't known those masters like Gu Kaizhi, Wu Daozi, Dong Yuan, Ju Ran,Guo Xi, Mi Fu&Mi Youren, Chen Laolian, Yun Xiang, Dong Qichang,and even Da Vinci, Monet, Renoir and so on are male, will we say that their works lack masculinity just like a woman's painting? Of course I'm not meaning that my works are as good as those masters' by making such a comparison, but I think their works are more delicate, exquisite, abundant and soft.
　　Browsing the paintings album of those masters, it's easy to find that their works don't contain too many masculine hard lines; instead they are full of soft, details and abundance, and then why don't people say that those are painted by women? I tried to figure it out and finally found that's because on one hand, people have already known the painters are male, on the other hand they are well known to each one of big fame so that people dare not make comments casually. Indeed, they are all sages that share the common consciousness of classical aesthetics and their works are all absolutely masterpieces.
　　Actually classic culture doesn't have the distinctions of sex, nationality and region. The reason why classical works are called excellent is because they all accord with the classic awareness of "pure, quiet, delicate and subtle" and the classic aesthetic concept no matter inside or abroad. My teacher Li Qingzhou has ever said that,"the finest works must accord with the concept of 'pure, quiet, delicate and subtle'." In the modern colorful and materialistic society, sticking to 'pure, quiet, delicate and subtle' is indeed rather difficult, especially the 'subtle'. While exploring the concept of 'quiet, pure, delicate and subtle' he said that, 'subtle' means tiny, thin, covert and exquisite. In the Bei Qi Shu-Fan Xun Zhuan , the idea about the Buddhism and Taoism goes like this:'Sakya Trizin stays unrestrainedly and changes himself as he pleases. He sees the universe just as a tiny mote, and he puts the Xu Mi Mountain into a small rice grain.''Subtle'means hiding, invisibility, quiet and subtleties. Lao Zi has ever said that'subtleties are mysterious and can never be known thoroughly' Subtleties are charming due to its soft, connotation, indescribability and the embrace for all in the nature. Subtleties contain all, bear 'have' and 'not have', and reflect both 'yes' and 'no'. Practicing it is hard but wonderful; nevertheless I will keep seeking for and exploring it.
　　Looking across the masterpieces of those masters, it's not difficult to find out that they all contains soft, connotation, details, abundance and subtleties. Dong Yuan of Wu Dai painted Xiao Xiang Picture, Xi Shan Picture and Finding Boat at Pass. Over on the paintings, you can see luxuriant jungles and quiet mountains in distance, which stand on the picture serenely, also you can feel the wet floating between them. Mi Youren of Song Dynasty also reflected the embracing-all of the classic culture through his works like Ink Interest for the Cloudy Mountain, Sunny Cloud over the Distant Mountains and Joy in the Cloudy Mountain, with the hazy cloudy mountains, the implicit images and the subtle charm. Still what those masters of Qing Dynasty such as Chen Hongshou, Yun Shouping and Mei Qing painted also expressed the distinct situations and objects through the gloomy, exquisite, abundant and subtle painting languages. Besides in the western, the masterpieces of the masters like Da Vinci, Monet and Renoir are all full of soft, details, connotation and subtleties. Connotation, subtleties and soft all belong to the concept of Yin, which indicates that the classic culture regards Yin as the wonderful state. Connotation contains uncertainty, and subtleties can even hold the Xu Mi Mountain. Soft is more powerful than hardness, and Yin embraces Yang. Therefore whether a painting is masculine and vigorous shouldn't be judged only by the appearance and shapes, for it's all underlying of the implicit subtleties. It's all contained in the style, the air and even the small rice grains instead of gender distinctions.

by Shi Yi

作者：Shi,Yi