MI FEI

born 1051 died 1107, Huai-yang, Kiangsu province, China Pinyin Mi Fei, original name (Wade-Giles romanization) Mi Fu, also called Yan-chang, Hai-yeh Wai-shih, or Hsiangyang Man-shih scholar, poet, calligrapher, and painter, one of the dominant figures in Chinese art. He followed an official career but never rose high in the civil service and frequently changed posts. In 1103 he was made a doctor of philosophy, and in 1104 he became a professor of painting and calligraphy. Of his extensive writingspoetry, essays on the history of aesthetics, and criticism of paintinga considerable amount survives. Additional reading Lin Yu-t'ang, The Chinese Theory of Art (1967), translations with introductions of aesthetic writings by various Chinese painters and critics, including Mi Fei; Shodo zenshu, vol. 15, pp. 2636 (1954), reproductions of Mi Fei's calligraphy; Osvald Siren, Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles (1956), critical biography and reproductions of some of Mi Fei's works; Sung Mi Fei mo-chi, ed. by the National Palace Museum, Taipei (1970), reproduction of Mi Fei's calligraphy; R.H. van Gulik, Chinese Pictorial Art as Viewed by the Connoisseur (1958), translations of important Mi Fei text dealing with connoisseurship and seals, and Mi Fu on Ink Stones (1938); Nicole Van-dier-Nicolas, Le Houa-che de Mi Fou (10511107), ou Le Carnet d'un connaisseur l'poque des Song du Nord (1964), annotated translation of Mi Fei's Hua shih (Account of Painting); and Art et sagesse en Chine: Mi-Fou (10511107), peintre et connaisseur d'art dans la perspective de l'esthtique des lettrs (1963), a biographical study of Mi Fei; Wai-kam Ho, Mei Fei, Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 10, col. 8490 (1965), an important biographical article, with an excellent bibliography.