Mi Fu From A Number Of Issues In The History Of Painting Of View "non-division Can Be" The Essence And Purpose

In Song Dynasty, although Su Shi confirmed certain properties of the value of the so-called wenrenhua (paintings of man-of-letters), he did not set the stylistic standards for the taste of man-of-letters. Actually, it was Mi Fu who accomplished such mission eventually. Mi Fu attempted to establish a kind of pattern of landscape painting corresponding to Su Shi's principle of"congeniality", and he put it into practice in person. Mi Fu discovered Dong Ju and he evolved Dong Ju's landscape painting skill of South-of-Yangtze Style into Mi's Mountains-and-Waters Pattern with the characteristics of man-of-letters'ink tricks. Mi Fu did not leave any painting pieces to pass on to contemporary Chinese people, but he presented us his illuminating work, The History of Painting, which is a collection of casual literary notes on painting art. By analyzing this work, it can be observed that Mi Fu strived to set up his pattern of Mountains-and-Waters and Tricks-of-Ink, which requires a style of delicateness and forcefulness, as well as an interest of simplicity and naivety. Mi's Mountains-and-Waters Pattern occupied a unique place in Song Dynasty, and such uniqueness in status and value can only be embodied by its influence on other wenrenhua pieces of later generations.