Mi Fu

Mi Fu (, 1051–1107 CE), born Mi Fei (), 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 and his calligraphy by Wang Xizhi.

Mi Fu is regarded as one of the four greatest calligraphers of the Song dynasty, alongside Su Shi, Hung Tingjian and Cai Xian. His style is derived from calligraphers in earlier dynasties, however he developed unique traits of his own. His son, Mi Youren, also became a well known painter. He followed his father's artistic style, adopting his use of large dots of wet ink, a technique later nicknamed "Mi Dots".

As a personality, Mi Fu was noted as an eccentric, including a mania of cleanliness. At times, he was deemed "Madman Mi" due to his obsession with collecting stones. He was also known to be a heavy drinker. Provided by Wikipedia