Mi Fu

Mi Fu
Mi Fu as depicted in a 1503 painting by Guo Xu
Chinese name
Chinese	米芾 or 米黻
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǐ Fú Wade–Giles Mi Fu Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Mei5 Fat1 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese MieiB Pjwǝt
Korean name
Hangul	미불
Transcriptions McCune–Reischauer Mi Bul
Japanese name
Hiragana	べいふつ
Transcriptions Romanization Bei Futsu

Mi Fu (Chinese: 米芾 or 米黻; pinyin: Mǐ Fú, 1051–1107) was a Chinese painter, poet, and calligrapher born in Taiyuan during the Song Dynasty. In painting he gained renown for his style of painting misty landscapes. This style would be deemed the "Mi Fu" style and involved the use of large wet dots of ink applied with a flat brush. His poetry followed the style of Li Bai and his calligraphy that of Wang Xizhi. His uninhibited style made him disliked at the Song court.

He is best known for his calligraphy, and he was regarded as one of the four greatest calligraphers of the Song Dynasty. His style arises from that of calligraphers in earlier dynasties, but with a unique mark of his own.

As a personality Mi Fu was noted as an eccentric. At times they even deemed him "Madman Mi" because he was obsessed with collecting stones and even declared one stone to be his brother. Hence he would bow to his "brother" rock in a display of the filial devotion given to older brothers. He also was known as a heavy drinker. His son, Mi Youren, would also be a famous painter in his father's artistic style. Unlike his father Mi Youren lived to be quite elderly, dying at the age of 79.

According to tradition, he was a very smart boy with a great interest in arts and letters and an astonishing ability of memorizing. At the age of six he could learn a hundred poems a day and after going over them again, he could recite them all.

His mother was employed as a midwife and afterwards as a wet-nurse to look after and feed the Emperor Shenzong who was to start his reign in 1051 and continue until 1107. Mi Fu knew the imperial family and he lived in the privileged location of the royal palaces, where he also started his career as Reviser of Books, Professor of Painting and Calligraphy in the capital, Secretary to the Board of Rites and Military Governor of Huaiyang. These frequent changes of official position were caused by Mi Fu's sharp tongue and open criticism of official ways and means. He is said to have been a very capable official, but unwilling to submit to conventional rules and manifested a spirit of independence which caused him serious difficulties.