Thinking of Mi fu

--from the Peony archives (shocked to realize not a lot has changed either when it comes to me and Mi Fu...)

The other day, talking about how beautiful Japanese kimono are with a friend, he said that he thought it was a shame that we too don't have more chances to dress up in the styles of a hundred years ago. 

Dressing in the styles of a hundred years ago...

After pausing ever so slightly to imagine what exactly that would look like, I found myself smiling and thinking immediately of Mi Fu. Madman Mi, as he was also lovingly known, served for a brief time at the court my lover the Emperor-- for indeed, the two shared much in common, and I like to imagine that maybe they were even good friends.

Born in Shanxi (Hubei?) Province, it is believed that Mi Fu's family was also of Sogdian origin-- a fact that Peter Sturman suggests Mi Fu went out of his way to conceal-- even changing one of the characters used to write his name (to give it a more Chinese sound).  Thanks in part to his mother’s connections at Court, where she served as a Lady-in-waiting to the Consort of Emperor Shenzong, Mi Fu was able to enter the official bureaucracy without ever having had to take any of the official examinations.

Despite his excellent connections, though, Mi was never particularly "career-oriented" --as he remained till the very end devoted to the creation, study and collection of art. In fact, to this day, Mi Fu is considered to be one of the greatest connoisseurs of art in Chinese history. His passion started while he was still quite young, and he has described in his writings how his mother more than once sold her ornamental hair combs in order to fund his collecting while he was still only a child.

To call him an eccentric would only be an understatement.

For he walked the streets of the capital dressed in the fashions popular hundreds of years earlier during the Tang dynasty, because he claimed he admired the styles back then.

He was also known for introducing himself and bowing to especially fine specimens of garden rocks which were of the type he collected; addressing them politely as “elder brother.” Greatly admired by Emperor Huizong for his knowledge and style, he was appointed Director of the Calligraphy and Painting Institute at Court where the Prime Minister was said to have observed, “Mi Fu is the kind of person we must have one of, but cannot afford to have two of!” Even though his knowledge was formidable, his personality was such that he didn’t last long at Court.

Spending his later years roaming the waterways of the country on his houseboat, named “The Mi Family Calligraphy and Painting Barge,” he managed to acquire an immense collection of important works of calligraphy, painting, ancient bronzes, and other antiquities. His acquisitions were sometimes of a dubious method as he was known to have replaced some originals of borrowed works with replicas, and on more than one occasion threatened suicide to friends who wouldn’t agree to sell their masterpieces to him. He was also reported to have stolen the plaques from temple gates because they provided fine samples of a particular style of calligraphy. His foibles were usually forgiven, because, of course, he was considered a genius. What Mi Fu was unable to acquire, he managed to at least find the opportunity to view, and so his knowledge of Chinese art was encyclopedic.

When I think of Mi Fu, I always smile for I, too, like his style. With his huge personality and great appreciation and knowledge of art, like my Emperor, he is, in the end, forgiveable.  Thinking of my recent conversation with the mysterious Professor A. Ku, I wonder if it could even be argued in Kierkegaardian terms that Mi Fu's thievery and conniving was just another case of the suspension of the ethical-- that is, it was all in the line of duty. For art was for Mi Fu, his life's Defining Commitment, absolutely defining him in the way all geniuses are defined by their art.

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Mi Fu is the kind of guy I would love to go to coffee with-- but you will notice he was not selected to go to Paradise with me. Why? Well, perhaps I have grown tired of big personalities-- which I have noticed lately seem to come with their equally bad side.

My friend in the Hanlin Academy is also concerned with issues of character (人徳等) and says, "think about what the difference is between having a lot of personality and a lot of character." I believe perhaps it is true that character demands a kind of consistency-- in one's speech and actions-- and more, that such consistency itself demands a kind of restraint (rather than a leap into something new as in Kierkegaard, for example).

This is probably a famous anacdote but my tea sensei loved it. She said, Michaelangelo didn't sculpt images in marble as much as he simply cut away what was unnecessary and extraneous, thereby allowing that which was already present in the rock to come forth. She said that this was the Way of Tea. The removal of everything unnecesary or superfluous. Each movement has meaning, she said. "Do what comes natural to you" (I found, though, it worked better for me when I did the opposite of what came natural...!)

I know my Emperor would have been delighted if I had invited Mi Fu to Paradise with us.... but really, like with so many people with big personalities, I think the dangers were not worth the risk.

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This is the best book on Mi Fu I have read. It is probably hard to come by now...

Above painting by Vietnamese painter Hong Viet Dung, Girl with Lotus Leaf. Below: Boy with Lotus Leaf

And, The World of Mi Fu's Art: another National Palace Museum wonder.

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Parag Khanna had another great article in Foreign Affairs, Beyond City Limits. Wondered if the photo was by Michael Wolf (whose work I am a huge fan)--and then there is this funny meditation on cities by Glenn Gould (thanks M) 

 

Comments

[Eric]

I think your thoughts on inviting Mi Fu to Paradise are similar, in a sense, to your thoughts about heaviness and lightness.

The big personality, driven off passion is wonderful because it cares for nothing but what is essential to it - the Passion. Whether it's art, music, travel, food - it's about some aspect of beauty, and therefore life. It's very attractive - because some part of us all wishes to be so free and filled with that unhindered passion.

That's the lightness.

But then one thinks of the effects of that. Putting Passion first means deprioritizing other things like the connections and relationships - to communities as well as individuals. The joys of love, connection, togetherness - they bind and weight us at the same time they nourish us.

That's the heaviness.

And so, you seem to find you need someone to be heavy enough to be with you in Paradise.

Mi Fu is beautiful, but too light.

[Claytonian]

I find kimonos really fit me comfortably, but as a foreigner in Japan, it would unfortunately be a bit odd of me to wear them every day. Not to mention the expense...

[Peony]

The expense indeed!! One of my best friends just bought a kimono-- her "dream kimono" in fact, and it was more expensive than a small car. You would look really good in a kimono I think. There are so many great flea markets where you can buy them used-- you should buy yourself an entire wardrobe :)

[M.W.Nolden]

I like these Vietnamese paintings!
I am also drawn to the "big personalities" but while charismatic & compelling, they are always so darn labor-intensive!

[Peony]

Hi MW,

I love the paintings as well-- and there is one other Vietnamese contemporary artist who was really popular in Hong Kong when I lived there about 7 years ago who painted in a similar style but in lacquer. For the life of me, though, I cannot find his name, but I actually preferred his paintings.

Did you follow the link above? I loved the painting of girl with bird.

This is a great book about contemporary Vietnamese art, which may have become hard to come by...

It's so popular in Hong Kong and Japan, I wonder if you see many exhibitions of contemporary Vietnamese art in NY??

Hope all is well with you.

[John Emerson]

Aren't used kimonos haunted by the previous owner's ghost?