Lai Chusheng's Seal Impressions

Author: Zhang Yongbo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-08-01
Features: Chu Sheng (1903---1975), originally named Ji, styled Ranxi. He had many aliases, including Fei Weng, Yi Jie, Mu Ren, Fei Ye, Chu Fu, Huadan, etc. Later, he changed his name to Chu Sheng, also written as Chu Sheng. His study names included Ranxi Studio and Anchu Tower. He was from Xiaoshan, Zhejiang. A renowned artist excelling in poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal carving. His paintings are fresh, robust, with concise brushwork and elegant style, standing alone in the modern flower-and-bird painting scene. His calligraphy is rustic yet refined, with cursive script and seal script highly praised. His seal carving draws inspiration from the Qin and Han dynasties and follows masters like Wu Xizai, Zhao Ziqian, Wu Junqing, and Qi Baishi, yet he avoids the clichés of predecessors, creating new ideas and pioneering a new generation of seal styles. His (small figure seals) blends Han reliefs and ancient, unparalleled in the seal world. Mr. Qian Juntao, vice president of the Xiling Seal Society and a great contemporary calligrapher, painter, and seal carver, once remarked: "Around the age of seventy, Lai Chu Sheng's seal carving underwent a sudden transformation— (rustic yet refined), (powerful and ancient), unprecedented. Even the two Wu (referring to Wu Zaixi and Wu Junqing) should yield, and Qi Baishi, who claimed to have reformed his style, still left traces of chiseling and artificiality. In the 1970s, only Chu Sheng could dominate the seal world independently." This is a highly fitting critique. His works include Lai Chu Sheng Painting Collection, Lai Chu Sheng Calligraphy Collection, and Ranxi Studio Small Figure Seal Collection. This catalog focuses on his representative works from the five years before his death in the 1970s, his peak creative period, with some works from the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s listed at the beginning, allowing readers to trace the evolution of his art. The arrangement of the 600 seals and 165 edge inscriptions may not strictly follow the order of creation. Non-textual seals are difficult to categorize in detail, so they are broadly divided into zodiac seals, calligraphy seals, and Buddha seals, interspersed throughout the catalog with lively layouts.