Chen Jen Hao 陈人浩

Chen Renhao (Chen Jen Hao 1908 - 1976) was an educator and Chinese calligrapher. He was also proficient in painting.

Chen was born into a wealthy family in Fuzhou, China. After completed his secondary school education in 1924, he went to Shanghai to receive art education. In 1928, he travelled to Paris for further study. After graduation in 1932, he returned to China and taught at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts from 1933 for 5 years. While in Shanghai, Chen met and became close friends with fellow artist Liu Kang (1911-2004), who married Chen's sister Jen-ping (Ren Bin) in 1937. In the same year of his sister’s marriage he was forced to flee to Muar, Malaya due to the Japanese invasion of China. At first, he taught at Chung Hwa Secondary and after the Second World War he became the principal of Chung Hwa High School in Muar, Johor.

He moved to Singapore in 1956 and became the principal of Kallang West Government Chinese Middle School, which is the predecessor of Dunman Government Chinese Middle School (now called Dunman High School). He was the principal of the school till 1969 when he retired.

Chen’s father was a scholar who practiced Chinese calligraphy regularly. Since young, Chen observed closely how his father practiced calligraphy. He was very much influenced and became interested in the art as well. His family had a good collection of calligraphic works of various periods by various calligraphers. Chen practiced all of them and later developed his own style of writing. He started with Yan and Ou style and followed by practising the works of Su Shi, Huang Ting Jian, Mi Fu and others.

As a principal, Chen liked to write school notices using the Chinese brush. The beautifully written notices had attracted many students to come to the notice board just to look at the writings. Some students from neighbouring schools were attracted by the writings too. One of them was calligrapher and painter Koh Mun Hong (Xu Mengfeng) who mentioned in one of his books how he was fascinated by Chen’s writings and decided to learn calligraphy after seeing them. There is no doubt that many more students were similarly influenced and had developed a keen interest in calligraphy.

Liu Kang, a famous painter, once commented Chen’s calligraphy, saying the structure of his calligraphy was decorous and solid, and his strokes were strong, smooth and simple. The calligraphy therefore revealed its gentle beauty and yet retained the dignity, its liveliness and yet maintained the manly mettle. His couplets, displaying the charm of vigour and strength, would pleasantly delight the viewers. His vertical banners, mostly written in walking cursive (xingcao) style, were spontaneous and free, like floating clouds and flowing water, and naturally they would charm the viewers.

It is a pity that Chen did not conduct calligraphy classes and therefore did not have students learning calligraphy from him during his life time. Probably this is a greatest loss to the Singapore calligraphy community.

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陈人浩是一名教育家与书法家。他也是一名画家。

陈人浩出生于福州的一个富有人家。1924年中学毕业后到上海去接受艺术教育。1932年毕业后，到法国深造。1932年毕业后回到上海，于1933年在上海美专教课，为期五年。在上海的时候，他遇到了画家刘抗并成为了好朋友。1937年，刘抗与陈人浩的妹妹陈人滨结婚。就在他妹妹结婚的这一年，由于日本侵略中国，陈人浩被逼逃亡到马来亚的麻坡。他首先在麻坡的中华中学当教员。第二次世界大战后，他成为柔佛州麻坡中化中学的校长。

1956年，他移居新加坡，担任加冷西政府华文中学的校长。这间学校是德明政府华文中学（现改名为德明中学）的前身。他一直担任这间学校的校长，直到1969年退休为止。

陈的父亲是一名书生，经常练习书法。从小陈就仔细观察父亲书写书法，因此受到了影响，以至对这门艺术产生了兴趣。由于他的家所藏的书法字帖丰富，陈临摹了这些字帖，并在后形成自己的风格。他从颜、欧体开始，后来学苏、黄、米及其他书家的字帖。

在他担任校长期间，他喜欢以毛笔来书写布告。字体美丽的布告吸引了不少学生前来布告栏看字，就连附近学校的学生也被这些字所吸引了。其中的一个就是著名画家与书法家许梦丰。他在一部书中谈到他如何被陈的字所吸引与看到陈的字后决定学书法。相信当时不少学生就是受到他的影响而对书法发生兴趣。

著名画家刘抗(1911-2004)曾评说，他的字宫架稳实厚重，笔法苍润扑拙，庄严中含有几分秀丽，活泼中不失丈夫气概；他的对联，最能表现出雄浑的魄力，令观者胸怀为之一畅；他的条幅，多以行草书写，洒脱超逸，有如行云流水，叫鉴赏者心醉。

很可惜，陈人浩在世时并没有开书法班和收书法学生。这可能是新加坡书法界的最大损失。