Mi Fu

Mi Fu (Chinese: 米芾 or 米黻; pinyin: Mǐ Fú, also given as Mi Fei, 1051–1107) was a Chinese painter, poet, and calligrapher born in Taiyuan during the Song dynasty. He became known 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 was influenced by Li Bai (李白)and his calligraphy by Wang Xizhi (王羲之). Mi Fu was regarded as one of the four greatest calligraphers of the Song Dynasty. His style is derived from calligraphers in earlier dynasties, although he developed unique traits 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. He was also known as a heavy drinker. His son, Mi Youren, would also become a known painter following in his father's artistic style. Unlike his father, Mi Youren lived to be quite elderly, dying at the age of 79.