Wang Fu

Wang Fu (ca. 1362–1416) was a Chinese landscape painter, calligrapher and poet of the Ming dynasty, born in Wuxi, in Jiangsu province. He matters because he belongs to the scholar-painter tradition, in which poetry, calligraphy and painting were regarded as one artistic practice.

His landscapes followed the manner of Wang Meng and Ni Zan, two earlier masters whose dry brushwork and austere compositions he took as a model. He also painted ink bamboo in a free and uninhibited style, moving away from academic stiffness. Besides his courtesy name, Mengduan, he used the art names Youshisheng and Jiulong Shanren.

Wang Fu's legacy is mainly associated with the continuity of scholar painting in the early Ming, when the manner of Wang Meng and Ni Zan remained a reference for later painters.