Mi Fu's Running Script

Mi Fu’s Running Script
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Mi Fu’s Running Script
The Chinese writing system visually represents verbal communication as indicated by the Chinese script. The script entails a logographic system of writing that uses characters as the basic writing units. Chinese characters have no syllabary or alphabet, but they represent a monosyllabic morpheme. Chinese calligraphy refers to the stylized artistic representation of Chinese characters. In addition, it is perceived as a visual art in China, which establishes the standard for judging Chinese painting. Early Chinese words were seen as simplified pictorial images, whose meaning was derived through imagination and suggestion. Mi Fu was a renowned Chinese calligrapher, painter, and poet. He was born during the Song dynasty in Taiyuan. His misty landscape painting style involved using large wet ink dots that were applied using a flat brush. Mi Fu was a great calligrapher alongside Cai Xian, Su Shi, and Hung Tingjian. The paper focuses on Mi Fu’s running script.
Mi Fu started showing interest in painting, art, poetry, and calligraphy during his childhood. His family was privileged since Mi Fu’s mother was the emperor’s wet nurse. As such, Mi Fu grew up in the royal palaces and interacted with the imperial family. The person was talented in calligraphy but was not willing to enroll in formal lessons. Due to his critics of the conventional regulations during the Song Dynasty, Mi Fu changed jobs more frequently. At some point, he was the book reviser at the imperial library, the Board of Rites secretary, a professor of calligraphy and painting at the Kaifeng capital in Henan province, and Huaiyang’s military governor (China Online Museum, 2022). Moreover, Mi Fu gathered old paintings and writings since he was interested in understanding the work of other calligraphers and painters. The individual had an eccentric personality. For instance, he was manifested by his attention to cleanliness and his preference for ancient Chinese clothes. He also liked to collect ink stones and strange rocks. The individual had great respect for other Chinese painters and calligraphers and was determined to learn crucial lessons from their work. When it comes to the subject of calligraphy, Mi Fu valued self-expression and gave remarkable remarks about Chinese historic styles.
Being raised in the imperial premises, Mi Fu had the advantage of accessing numerous works of scholars, including paintings and poems. At a young age, he read and recited many poems. He had an incredible memory. However, Mi Fu was much interested in how letters were written. Calligraphy excited him. Despite depicting great talent in calligraphy, Mi Fu turned down formal lessons provided on the imperial premises. The person demonstrated a significant level of understanding of calligraphy and preferred to teach himself instead of what he was taught. Poetry, calligraphy, and painting were Mi Fu’s favorite things. During the Song Dynasty, painters were perceived as intellectual scholars. Calligraphy and painting were ways of expressing their perceptions, views, or reactions to life (McNair, 1994). Regardless of being a master of calligraphy and ink painting, Mi Fu avoided being recognized as a professional artist. The calligrapher wrote what he observed, which made him a renowned Chinese artist. He was courageous to comment on other artists’ work by criticizing their ideas. Mi Fu believed in the originality of paintings and calligraphy. As such, he sets standards that were applied to rate calligraphers.
The running script was a Chinese writing system developed during the Eastern Han Dynasty. The name “running” came from the fact that writing a script resembled running water. In particular, it was a concise and freer form of script. Despite running script being unrestrained, it was not easy to excel in this form of writing. Cai Xiang, Mi Fu, Su Shi, and Huang Tingjian were renowned masters of the running script during the Song Dynasty (City University of Hong Kong, n.d.). The character stroke thickness kept changing. For instance, they were sometimes thin or thick based on the way the artist wants to depict the calligraphy. Running script falls between cursive and regular script. The character form is not round or square. On that note, the running script is uniquely written calligraphy. Mi Fu’s talent in calligraphy and painting contributed to his prowess in the running script. When it comes to the running script, the strokes of the characters are sometimes condensed or eliminated. As discussed before, Mi Fu believed that calligraphy was a way of expressing himself. His perception of calligraphy as a convenient and easy writing system contributed to running script becoming the most popular Chinese writing system.
Although Mi Fu was talented in calligraphy, poetry, and painting, he was influenced by other prominent Chinese artists during the Song Dynasty. Some of them include Wang Xizhi, Li Bai, Wang Xun, and Yuan Tie. Specifically, the Song Dynasty was called the age of refinement due to an overtone of intellectualism. That is why Song Dynasty's prominent calligraphers were known as the men of letters, including Mi Fu, Su Shi, Cai Xiang, and Huang Tingjian. The most fascinating thing about these artists is that their calligraphic styles appeared careless and more ca...