閱《蘇雪林山水》畫冊、讀其《燈前詩草》、《浮生九四》與《日記》中六百五十多則作畫心錄。發現其畢生作畫的心血，與其作詩、寫學術論文與文藝創作，功夫約略各佔四分之一。但是一般公認他是學者、作家，詩人，而畫界卻未有人說他是畫家，卻又同稱其畫為文人畫。筆者以此認為文人畫應有其原型在，不然不會有此現象。 於是乃從原型論（prototyle theory）：「只要相似，不須一致」的觀點切入，以探溯文人畫之原型。本文先把中國繪畫分為兩條主軸：縱軸為先秦以來之人物畫；橫軸則是魏晉以下漸興之山水畫；再經由文人意識之論述而逼出文人畫之原型，進程分為：（一）文人畫乃對傳統人物畫只重勸戒教化之反彈。（二）畫工（或稱畫師）縱使官大社會地位亦卑。（三）道家之觀想法間接促進山水畫之發展。（四）詩化的山水與文人畫之原型。以此得以界定文人畫的三個要件：第一其身份必須是文人，尤其是詩人，而非專業畫家；第二其特色應以山水畫為主要表現題材，第三其興趣超過藝術要求。 再從王維、白居易、蘇軾到蘇雪林先生的資料分析，可以看出一個文人喜歡繪畫的「原型」輪廓：對王維來說，繪畫對他只是「有時遊戲三昧」，「偶被時人知」而已，但是在他的內心深處，畫師才是他終生的夢想。從唐制宋朝蘇軾漸形成理論，再從蘇雪林先生身上，我們又如看到「當世謬詞客，前身應畫師」的再生。縱使缺點多多，還是順從如火燃燒般的興趣畫到老。蓋文人畫的最初原型，本來就是趣味性、遊戲性超越藝術性。因此當專業畫家不認同他，他也會說：「洪君書法及畫均不錯，刻印尤佳，不意其腹中缺乏墨水竟至於此。」以是知腹中有無「墨水」，乃是業餘文人畫與專業化匠之大區別。

Looking at Su Hsuei-Lin's Landscape Painting Collection and reading her 650-plus essays about the painting experience from her Poetry under the Light, Life Ninety-Four and Diary, I have found that she was engaged in four major activities: painting, composing poetry, writing academic papers, and artistic creation, each of which took up one quarter of her energy and talent. However, she is generally recognized as a scholar, a writer and a poet, rather than a painter. While she is never identified as a painter in the painting community, her works are viewed as literati paintings. This leads me to assume that literati painting ought to have its prototype. Therefore, this study is intended to explore the prototype of literati painting from the perspective of similarity instead of sameness, based on the prototype theory. In this study, Chinese painting is generally classified into two major categories. One category contains personality paintings that have been created since the pre-Chin period. The other category consists of landscape paintings, which began to prevail following the Wei-Ching period. A discussion of literati views of the two categories is conducted to work out the prototype of literati painting. In the research process, the following points are discussed: (1) literati painting as a reaction to religion-and-morality oriented personality painting, (2) the low status of a painter in society, (3) the development of landscape painting under the indirect influence of the spiritual cultivation of Taoism (4) poetic landscape painting and the prototype of literati painting. Literati painting can thus be defined with three requirements. The first requirement is that it must be a literary figure, especially a poet, not a professional painter. The second requirement is that landscapes should be featured as the subject matter, and the third requirement is that entertainment is emphasized over artistic demands. A data analysis of Wang Wei, Po Chu-i, Su Shih and Su Hsuei-Lin highlights the kind of painting that a literary figure is fond of. To Wang Wei, painting is nothing but “a playful matter at times” and “a matter occasionally known.” Deep in his heart, his lifetime dream is to become a painter. Theory of painting had been gradually formulated over the period from Tang dynasty to Sung dynasty at the time of Su Shih. In the case of Su Hsueh-Lin, we have come to see her as “a contemporary poet who is supposed to be a painter in previous life.” Regardless of a great number of shortcomings, she followed her interest to paint throughout her life. This is because that the initial prototype of literati painting is enterainment. Playfulness is more important than artistic sense. Thus, when she was not recognized by a professional painter, she still remarked, “Mr. Hung is good in both calligraphy and painting, even better in inscription. It never occurs to me that he is short of learning and talent to such an extent.” She means to say that the major difference between an amateur literary painter and a professional painting artisan is “learning and talent.”