On January 5, the "Tiger Ticket" of the Year of Nongyin was officially issued, but since its debut, this set of realistic pen style "Tiger Tickets" has triggered a fierce discussion on the Internet, and many netizens believe that the tigers on the stamps do not have tiger power, "melancholy" and "stupid".
The seventh set of chinese zodiac stamps is designed by The famous Chinese painter Feng Dazhong, whose artworks are especially famous for painting tigers. "The Year of Nong yin" continues the design concept of the fourth round of zodiac stamps, interpreting the concepts of "country" and "home". The first stamp, titled "National Fortune Changlong", depicts the image of a majestic mountain tiger, standing tall and ambitious, conveying the meaning of the country's prosperity and ambition. The second stamp, titled "Tiger Yun Auspicious", depicts a warm scene of a gentle-looking mother tiger with two young tigers, symbolizing the prosperity of children and grandchildren and a happy family. Stamps are presented using offset engraving and joint printing, and the image details are richer and more delicate, and they are both anti-counterfeiting and artistic in the printing process. The planned circulation is 40.4 million stamps, 38.8 million stamps, 2.3 million layouts and 4.8 million small promissory notes.
Realistic style is demanding
Compared with the decorative style of the previous three rounds of Stamps of the Year of the Tiger, the special stamps issued this time are the seventh set of the fourth round of Chinese Zodiac stamps, and the Stamps of the Year of the Tiger are chinese brush stroke style, showing the image of the tiger in a more realistic way.
However, netizens seem to be not satisfied with the image of this set of "tiger tickets", and netizens question the image of the tiger in the two sets of stamps, like a "big cat".
Some senior stamp collectors believe that the decorative style of the first set of zodiac stamps is generally welcomed by the public, and this image design with a certain exaggerated technique is very suitable for batch printing, and the exaggerated image and eye-catching colors are also easy to produce effects. It is also because the decorative style of the first set of zodiac stamps is too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, people have become accustomed to this design style with a certain sense of pattern. Therefore, as soon as the sample drawing of this year's Nongyin Tiger Ticket was announced, most people felt uncomfortable with this realistic style of writing."
Compared with the decorative style, gongbi really requires more color in terms of the proportion and color of the animal' body, and cannot be depicted in an exaggerated way. Therefore, many netizens expressed dissatisfaction with the shape and proportion of this tiger.
According to the China Pleittorial Newspaper, this "National Fortune Changlong" wants to express the meaning of national prosperity and national fortune, so it painted a fierce tiger on the mountain, which means to ascend to the far away, aiming at the peak and overlooking the mountains. In the picture, the horizon is lowered, and the tiger looks into the distance with a proud and majestic posture.
In consideration of the inherent echo and gupan relationship of the two stamps, in the process of revision, the author handled the high tiger head slightly lower, and elongated the tiger body, increasing the sense of volume of the picture.
Stamp design is not so simple
Wu Yongliang, a contracted lecturer in the "Fun Chinese Character Lesson" column of Qilu Yidian, is also a senior stamp collector, and when asked about his views on the realistic style stamps, Mr. Wu said that each round of stamps has an overall design plan and should be viewed dialectically. It is a pity that the author changed the three baby tigers to two in the later revision, and the previous design echoed the policy of "three children".
In an interview with China Pleitsal, Feng Dazhong introduced that the second "Tiger Yun auspicious" shows the tiger's love of heaven, and the picture is the tiger mother and its two baby tigers. Feng Dazhong told reporters that he originally painted three small tigers, which means that the country and the nation are strong and the descendants are prosperous. Later, one of the little tigers was removed and the remaining two were pulled apart. This modification makes the composition more plump, and the picture body and blank distribution more comfortable.
It can be seen that the design of the stamp pattern is still different from ordinary paintings, and the author must also comprehensively consider the overall coordination and composition of the picture in the design. As an expert in Chinese painting, especially Chinese gongbi painting, Wu Lei, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Academy of Fine Arts of Shandong Normal University, believes that from the perspective of perception alone, this set of "tiger tickets" does have some uncomfortable places in the body structure treatment of some animals and the layout of fur patterns. However, there are many reasons why the effect is not ideal, perhaps the reason for the production process, perhaps the reason for post-processing, or the reason for printing and publishing, so that this set of "tiger tickets" has not played out the level of painting that Feng Dazhong should have, "just like the calligrapher's words are carved into a stele, because the middle also has to go through rubbing and carving, etc., resulting in a big difference between the original work and the final appearance."
Each flower is in each eye, and the mouth is difficult to adjust
Peng Yinnian (1998) tiger ticket shows a frontal yellow cloth tiger, people who don't like it think it's just an ordinary cloth tiger toy, people who like it think this "tiger ticket" is very ethnic. GengYinnian (2010) "Tiger Ticket" is a cartoon 3D tiger with two hands crossed at the waist, which was also a very bold and breakthrough choice at the time. After the issuance of the "Tiger Ticket" in the year of Ying Yin (1986), many people also thought that the design of the tiger's claw was not good, but the entire stamp was based on blue and purple, the tiger had an "S" shaped structure, and the beard and eyes of the tiger were bright yellow, which was the effect of the designer Zhang Guofan's fusion of Kandinsky's "yellow is the night light" and the "yellow is breathable" view of Chinese folk art. The overall feeling is that it is a mighty and majestic and childish little tiger depicted in decorative painting techniques, with a tiger head and a tiger brain, gorgeous and powerful.
The reporter saw on the Internet that in addition to the first set of zodiac stamps that were less questioned, almost every year some people were "spitting" on the ugly zodiac stamps of that year! Even every year you can see the comments of "the ugliest zodiac stamps".
The zodiac is a traditional Chinese folk culture symbol, which integrates the observation of the ancients on the celestial signs and the understanding of nature, reflects the experience and wisdom of people's daily production and life, and the zodiac stamps as a unique carrier for spreading the zodiac culture, condensed between the square inches of painting, calligraphy, seal carving, folk handicrafts and other traditional Chinese cultural arts, interpreting the feelings of home and country.
In the design of the "Tiger Ticket", the cultural complex of worshiping tigers and loving tigers is embodied everywhere, condensing the spirit of Chinese and striving to be strong and praying for auspicious peace. Feng Dazhong hopes to use the vivid tiger in his pen to send a high-spirited and vibrant wish for a better life to everyone on the occasion of the New Year.
Almost every year after the issuance of zodiac stamps, it will arouse the attention of philatelic enthusiasts and netizens, and few one-edition designs can meet everyone's aesthetics. But different versions of zodiac stamps have their own characteristics, a successful stamp, its light must be able to cover up the shortcomings.
Source: New Yellow River, China Grammyal, Shangguan News, Beijing Daily, Sina Weibo, etc
Editor: Li Xiaoxu
Produced by Qilu OnePoint Content Center