What are the characteristics of Luohan statue in Biyun Temple Luohantang Bamboo Temple?

The arhat statue of Zhu Qian Temple in the Lohan Hall of Biyun Temple is characterized by vivid expression, anatomical proportion and vivid belt handling. In particular, the description of characters' demeanor, emotions, joys and sorrows has its own shapes. And there is a certain spiritual connection between each character. In the overall style, most of them are close to some painting styles of modern folk sculptures. In the image expression of characters, some are exaggerated, while others are almost artificial, lacking artistic meaning and image generalization. Although it seems to be true in describing the characters' demeanor and expressing their personalities, it makes people feel a little frivolous and superficial. In addition, in the treatment of costume props, some are too trivial, and some hinder the prominence of the theme. Nevertheless, the Luohan statue in Zhu Qian Temple still occupies a certain position in the history of modern sculpture in China. If some characters are evaluated, it can be said that the secularization of modern sculpture has reached a higher level. In the general arhat statues, most of the Dharma statues are depicted as the images of Indian venerable figures. What is shown here is the expression of an Indian when talking with people, with wide eyes and tense muscles, showing inner excitement and passion; Another Chinese-style venerable man was silent and calm, and his eyes looked down as if he were thinking about a difficult problem. These two different images reflect the different personalities and actions of two characters, and both faithfully represent two different typical characters in a realistic way.

According to the existing inscriptions in Zhu Qian Temple, this Luohan statue was created by Li Guangxiu, a famous craftsman in Sichuan. Of course, there are also talented assistants involved in this large-scale work. This group of 500 arhats, each about 1 meter high, took 7 years to complete. Its creative procedure is: first design the overall layout and draft structure, and draw the general image of each character, then decide the layout of the characters, and then engage in modeling. In the process of plastic sculpture, the portrayal of each character has been repeated by the plastic sculptor, and the actual portrait (model) is created with similar photos. This is very scientific in ways and means, which also shows that this unknown craftsman has high artistic creativity.