Lai Chusheng Yin Cun (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Zhang Yongbo, edited by Wu Yiren
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-08-01
Features: Chu Sheng (1903—1975), originally named Ji, styled Ranxi. He had many aliases, including Fu Weng, Yi Jie, Mu Ren, Fei Ye, Chu Fu, Huai Dan, etc. Later, he changed his name to Chu Sheng, also written as Chu Sheng. His study names included Ranxi Studio and Anchu Pavilion. From Xiaoshan, Zhejiang. He was a renowned artist excelling in poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal carving. His paintings were fresh, robust, and minimalist, with an elegant style, standing alone in the modern flower-and-bird painting world. His calligraphy was rustic yet refined, with cursive and clerical scripts highly praised. His seal carving drew inspiration from the Qin and Han dynasties and followed masters such as Wu Xizai, Zhao Ziqian, Wu Junqing, and Qi Baishi, yet he avoided the clichés of predecessors, creating new ideas and pioneering a new era of seal art. His portrait seals were particularly exceptional, blending Han reliefs and ancient portrait seals, unmatched in the history of seal carving. Qian Juntao, vice president of the Xiling Seal Club and a great contemporary calligrapher, seal carver, and painter, once remarked: "Around the age of seventy, Lai Chu Sheng's seal carving underwent a sudden transformation—simple, aged, powerful, and ancient, unprecedented. Even the two Wu (referring to Wu Zaixi and Wu Junqing) should yield, and Qi Baishi, who claimed to have innovated, still left traces of chiseling and artificiality. In the 1970s, only Chu Sheng could dominate the seal carving world independently." This is an apt evaluation. His works include Lai Chu Sheng Painting Collection, Lai Chu Sheng Calligraphy Collection, and Ranxi Studio Portrait Seal Collection. This catalog primarily features representative works from Chu Sheng's peak creative period in the five years before his death in the 1970s. Some works from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s are listed at the beginning, allowing readers to observe the evolution of his art. The arrangement of the six hundred seals and one hundred sixty-five edge inscriptions may not strictly follow the order of creation. Non-textual seals are difficult to classify in detail, so they are broadly divided into zodiac animal seals, calligraphy seals, and Buddha seals, interspersed throughout the catalog with lively layouts.