Abstract:At present, the relatively comprehensive research of Taoist art history in Westernacademic circles are mostly limited to a single material carrier such as the sculpture tablet orthe Taoist frescoe, and short of comprehensive studies across material carrier media. This iswhy Shih-shan Susan Huang’s book, Picturing the True Form: Taoist Visual Culture inTraditional China, can be accepted as a rare tour de force in recent years. As a monograph, it isno longer a simple collection of case studies, nor limited to the analysis and exploration of asingle material carrier, but a reflection of the author’s overall thinking on Taoist art. Thoughthis paper will begin with the analysis of True Shape of Pictures, it must make clear that it willnot merely focus on the interpretation of this monograph. Instead, it aims at finding out the thepossible trend of Taoist art history studies and its interaction with those closely relevantdisciplines, in particular the Taoist history studies, by means of the discussion and reflection onsome important concepts, methods, and case studies in the monograph. In the followingsections, this paper will start from the analysis and commentary to the monograph and launchfurther discussions on some issues in the field of Taoist art history that have become thecommon concern of today’s academic circle. It also places hope on providing possible projectson the basis of the domains and research topics that are familiar to the author of this paper.

Key words:Taoist Art History; True Shape of Pictures: Taoist Visual Culture in Antient China;Reflection and Prospect