Text, photo/ Wang Yuanchang
In the sound of firecrackers, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old charms.
--Song Wang Anshi, "Yuan Ri"
During the Lunar New Year, different regions have different folklore; different people have different expectations. But rooted in the heart, the feeling of praying for a better life is connected and difficult to change. The artistic expression that carries Yan Huang's heavy feelings, interprets the folk customs and dresses up people's lives, is indispensable to colorful New Year paintings.
The origins of Chinese New Year paintings can be traced back to the Qin and Han dynasties or earlier guardian deity paintings such as exorcism and avoidance of evil spirits, including peach charms, zhong kui gods, tianxing posts, etc. In the Song Dynasty, with the rise and maturity of engraving and printing technology, the New Year painting gradually evolved from the patron saint gate painting to the coloring and chromatic woodblock engraving New Year painting, which was the first time in the history of Chinese painting that woodblock New Year painting was opened.
In recent years, woodblock prints from 17 major domestic production areas, such as Tianjin Yangliuqing, Jiangsu Suzhou, Shandong Weifang, Sichuan Mianzhu, Henan Kaifeng, Shaanxi Fengxiang and other 17 major domestic production areas, have been selected into the national intangible cultural heritage list.
In my journey of more than ten years of searching for New Year paintings, I found that the birthplace of Chinese woodblock New Year paintings and the New Year paintings of Kaifeng "Zhuxian Town" have a strong yellow atmosphere, full of emotional colors, and vivid folk customs.
The Suzhou Peach Blossom Wood and Tianjin Yangliu Youth Paintings, which are praised by the world as "South Peach and North Willow", are the most dazzling in the north and south. They are based on real life, highlighting the personality characteristics of the characters, and the picture is flourishing, full of expression and attraction.
Today, the woodblock prints with a long history and can be called the classic cultural heritage of China have been picked up by more and more people, from the past posted on the four walls of the house to the exquisitely made and framed works of art, resigning the old and welcoming the new, including daily housewarming, new marriages, etc., and arranging hanging halls and shops.
In particular, some courtyard families in the streets and alleys where the New Year paintings are produced, "always exchange new peaches for old charms", and the New Year paintings hanging in the halls and the door gods posted outside the two courtyard doors form a beautiful New Year scenery with Ji Rui's Fu Zi Yang Lian and festive red lanterns. It shows people's yearning for a better life and exudes the fragrance that is difficult to give up in the hearts of the people.
The earliest form of expression of the New Year painting is the door painting pasted on the door in the New Year, that is, the "door god", which is very different in color and technique in different regions. Figure 1 shows the Menshen New Year painting created by Yin Guoquan, the national inheritor of the Zhuxian Town woodblock print; Figure 2 is Yang Liuqing's Door God Year Painting; Figure 3 is the Door God Year Painting created by Tai Liping, the national inheritor of Fengxiang Woodblock Print; Figure 4 is the Door God New Year Painting created by Yang Fuyuan, the national inheritor of Yangjiabu Woodblock New Year Painting
Kaifeng Zhuxian Town
Set a precedent for woodblock prints
In ancient times, Zhuxian Town was listed as one of the "Four Ancient Towns in China", and its reputation was achieved by the woodblock prints that flourished here and were passed down through the ages. As an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese art, Zhuxianzhen's woodblock prints were selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
On the day I went to Zhuxian Town, I was in time for a rare heavy snowfall in Kaifeng. The snow fluttering in the sky makes the morning in the ancient town a little less noisy, and as far as the eye can see, some shops and vendors are cleaning the snow in front of the door. This ancient town, which has been full of wind and rain for thousands of years, cannot imagine the glory it once had.
Yue Wang Temple built here during the Ming Dynasty, the side is Yue Temple Street, is a street of woodblock New Year paintings in the ancient town, and now a number of woodblock New Year paintings have been restored, in this old street can not only feel the charm of traditional woodblock New Year paintings, but also spend dozens of yuan to buy the precious works of the favorite New Year painting craftsmen.
According to historical records, Zhu Xianzhen woodblock prints, known as the "originator of Chinese woodblock prints", were born in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and reached more than 300 Annual Painting Workshops during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The opening of the canal made Zhuxian Town an important commercial town in the Central Plains, and the sales of New Year paintings reached a prosperous one, and many merchants from the current Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Ningxia and other regions gathered here to buy two-thirds of the country's New Year paintings.
The prosperity of Woodblock Prints in Zhuxian Town is inseparable from the fertile land of Kaifeng. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng was the political, economic and cultural center of the country, and the huge citizen class activated the demand for folk culture, providing a rich soil and market for the creation of New Year paintings.
Meng Yuanlao's "Tokyo Dream Record" records, "In recent years, the city has printed and sold door gods, peach plates, peach charms, etc. Unfolding the "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty", which depicts the social life of the Northern Song Dynasty, the guise of the "Wangjia Paper Horse" shop near the beginning of the volume is clearly recognizable.
Strolling along a street next to the ancient canal, the walls of the old houses on both sides are mottled, and the rugged eaves show the vicissitudes of the years it has experienced, and the original taste is soaked with nostalgia.
A two-storey paving is high up with a "guise" of yellow characters on a black background, and the book "Tiancheng Old Shop" is written. There is no decoration in the old house with peeling paint, and the four walls are hung with New Year paintings, such as the mighty door god, the iron-faced bearded bell head, the five sons winning the championship, the Song crane Yannian and the Lotus Noble Son.
The fifth generation of the "Tiancheng Old Shop", the elderly Yin Guoquan, who is more than seventy years old, is simply dressed, sitting in front of the table where various colors of paint are stacked, and with the assistance of his grandson, he repeatedly applies different pigments and prints the New Year paintings in chromatic colors. Placing a newly engraved set of engraved plates on the stage took the old man a month.
The iron shelf next to it is full of flowers and greenery, and the New Year paintings that have just been printed and dried are beautiful. Behind the counter sits Yin Lao's wife, the production table is connected to the counter, typical of the traditional workshop.
Every year at the beginning of December, it enters the peak period of New Year painting production. The picture shows Yin Guoquan, who is concentrating on printing the New Year painting
In Yin Guoquan's view, the truly original traditional skills are in danger of being lost. Over the decades, he has inherited and created more than 300 sets of engravings and more than 1500 pieces. He said: "The pigments of the New Year paintings are carefully processed and boiled with plants such as pine tobacco, locust rice, and Zhang Dan, although time-consuming and laborious, but compared with the current industrial pigments, the color is corrected." ”
"What the elders have handed down cannot be lost, and my two sons and grandchildren are heirs." Looking at his slightly rougher hands than ordinary people, and the wrinkles on his face that have been gullible by the years, a shock filled his heart.
The "Tiancheng Old Shop" with the production platform connected to the counter is full of the vicissitudes of the years
Most of the contents of Zhuxian Town's woodblock prints are based on familiar historical stories, myths and legends. The printing method is mainly engraved water color overprinting, one set of six editions, and some sets of up to nine editions. Red, yellow, green, purple chromatic colors, gorgeous and exaggerated. The figure is large and small, looks earthy and cute. Most of the characters' faces use white faces and red eyelids, which is its unique technique and the representative painting style of Zhu Xianzhen's woodblock prints.
The vigorous and clumsy lines, simple and symmetrical patterns, and rough and thick atmosphere reflect the strong local art style of Zhuxian Town, located in the hinterland of the Central Plains. Mr. Lu Xun once commented on Zhu Xianzhen's woodblock prints, "These woodcuts are simple, the carved lines are thick and powerful, they are not stained with fat powder, the characters are not flattering, the colors are thick, and they are very local. ”
Issued in 2008, the special stamp of "Zhuxian Town Woodblock New Year Painting" is taken from the classic stories of Step Down Whip, Three Niang Godson, Returning with a Full Load and Feng Xianglan
Qingming Shanghe Park, a real-life theme park opened to the public in 1998, is located on the west bank of Longting Lake in Kaifeng City. It is a large-scale historical and cultural park with the theme of Song culture based on the realistic painting "Qingming River Map" by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan, and is now a scenic spot of 5A.
The park sells Zhuxian Town woodblock prints all year round, and in the retro New Year painting shop, you can learn about the traditional woodblock prints, visitors can not only appreciate, buy, but also participate in the interaction on the spot.
In the quaint and vigorous Zhuxian Town woodblock prints with strong local characteristics, the red, yellow, green and purple chromatic colors are gorgeous and heavy, the character image is exaggerated, the head is large and small, and it looks earthy and cute
Suzhou Peach Blossom Wood
Carrying good expectations
The warm and colorful and thousand-year-old cultural context of suzhou ancient city gives the Peach Blossom WoodBlock Prints a remarkable character. During the Qing Yongzheng and Qianlong years, the most prosperous period of Taohuawu New Year paintings, hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen gathered here, the New Year paintings were exported to Nanyang, and "Peach Blossom Wood" became synonymous with Suzhou woodblock new year paintings.
Looking through some books that record Suzhou's humanistic tourism or walking in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road, you can see the shops of "Peach Blossom Wood New Year Painting". Suzhou also has a Taohuawu Street, which is a small stone road, lined with white-walled Daiwa houses, high hanging lanterns and Spring Festival, rendering the joy of the New Year.
In the shops on Taohuawu Street, it is not difficult to find the shadow of the New Year painting. In the park garden of Xuechangqiao Road, which intersects with Taohuawu Street, the Taohuawu Woodcut New Year Painting Museum was found. Walking in, a fresh and elegant garden comes into view, and the New Year Painting Museum is quietly hidden in the shade of Fushu.
The small bridge in Suzhou can be painted by everyone
The museum currently collects hundreds of ancient New Year paintings. There are treasures such as FuZi Diagram, Family Celebration, Magu Dedication Life Diagram, Double Beauty Love Flower Diagram, Gusu Xuanmiao Temple and so on. In the real scene display part, the living room is pasted with "three-star high photos" and "eight immortals crossing the sea", which means that the high friends are full of seats; the bedroom is pasted with "flowers bloom rich" and "early birth of noble children", which means husband and wife and beauty, these New Year paintings that reflect the living conditions of the people in ancient times are liked by modern people.
I saw a table with engraving tools such as engravings, engraving tables, printing tables, brown brushes, brown wipes, and fist knives, and several inheritors in their early thirties meticulously engraved engravings. Holding a knife in his right hand, skillfully carving lines on the woodblock, the tip of his nose dripping a little sweat but not being able to wipe it off, and his full attention is like making the world's most precious treasure.
Antique Peach Blossom Wood Historic Classic Woodblock New Year Painting "Blossom rich"
According to reports, a Peach Blossom Woodblock New Year painting is not completed by a painter alone, but needs to be created by three major steps of painting, engraving and printing, and is created by a collective. Compared with the New Year paintings in other regions, the characteristics of the Taohuawu New Year Paintings are completely by overprint printing, and there is no stroke after the printing is completed, and it is known for its engraving skills.
A fist knife that is just held by the palm of the hand can evolve into four kinds of knife methods: starting knife, lining knife, picking knife and compound knife, paying attention to "accurate knife, pick knife fierce, shovel light bottom", and the line is carved out to be natural and strong, clean and clean. Generally speaking, it takes 5 years to learn the painting of peach blossom wood new year painting, 4 years to engrave, and 2 years to print.
One of the main steps of traditional Chinese woodblock prints is engraving
At the beginning of 2008, a New Year painting created during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, "A Ball of Harmony", was successfully copied in Puyuan, which can be called the classic pioneering work of the Peach Blossom Wood New Year Painting. "A Ball of Harmony" admonishes the people of the court to live in harmony, and it has been spread to the people to place their hopes for unity and wishful thinking.
"A Ball of Harmony" is one of the representative works of The Peach Blossom WoodBlock Prints
Since history, the Peach Blossom Woodblock New Year Painting has carried a unique folk style, that is, from the content to the social effect, the name of the woodblock Prints is not limited to the New Year's posting and hanging. Instead, in accordance with the seasons, when different festivals and festivals come every year, we must use woodblock prints to express different beautiful expectations.
For example, when leaving the old and welcoming the new, paste the "Happy Map"; when the spring is established, paste the "Mandarin Spring Cow Chart"; and paste the "Moon Palace Map" during the Mid-Autumn Festival... Sticking to it, the new year is here again.
Tianjin Yang Liuqing
Deeply influenced by multiculturalism
During the Spring Festival, when you come to Yangliuqing Town in Tianjin's Xiqing District, you will be greeted by antique buildings with carved beams and paintings, and the frozen ancient canals will quietly "hibernate" in the town, and several beautiful arch bridges will cross the ice.
Surrounded by the Ziya River, the South Canal and the Daqing River, Tianjin Yangliuqing was an important wharf for the circulation of goods and overseas trade between the north and the south during the Ming and Qing dynasties, so the Yangliuqing woodblock prints were deeply influenced by multiculturalism.
Tianjin Ancient Culture Street is a scene
According to historical records, Yangliu youth paintings first appeared during the Ming Dynasty's Wanli Period, and reached unprecedented prosperity during the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty. In 1958, the state established the Yangliu Qing Painting Society to rescue the art of New Year paintings, collected and sorted out the Yangliu youth paintings, and cultivated a group of outstanding New Year painting artists.
In recent years, with the reform and opening up and the prosperity of the cultural tourism market, the demand for Yangliu youth painting has expanded, making this ancient folk art return to the lives of the people. At the same time, Yangliu Youth Painting has also entered the international art sales and collection market.
If the Peach Blossom Wood New Year Painting is like a subtle and beautiful beauty, then the Yangliu Youth Painting is a lively and frank man. From the fat doll picture holding the carp and holding the lotus flower to the Fulu Shou three-star chart of Jiqing Xiangrui, a unique style of vividness, joy and emotion has been created.
Yangliu Youth Painting inherits the tradition of Song and Yuan painting, absorbing the forms of Ming Dynasty woodcut prints, arts and crafts, and theatrical stages. Its early process is basically the same as that of the Taohuawu New Year Painting, and it uses a stereotyped overprint of the drawings; in the post-production, it takes a lot of work to use for manual painting.
Yang Liu Youth Painting Five Sons Of Winning Lotus was once selected as a stamp
A New Year painting needs to go through five main processes: sketching, engraving, woodblock overprinting, hand painting, and mounting, plus more than three monochrome overprints. Due to the combination of printing and painting, it has a quiet, elegant and lively visual effect, which is unattainable by other folk New Year paintings.
The content of the picture is mainly based on folk life, fat dolls, maids and historical stories, the most classic is "More than a Year in a Row", the doll in the painting is a childlike Buddha body, a posture of martial arts, holding a carp in his arms, holding a lotus flower, catering to the folk 'blessings and blessings' and "many children and many blessings".
Yang Liu Qingmen Shennian painting
On the antique Ming and Qing Dynasty Streets, Yucheng, Yichengyong, GuLiuxiang, Huayunzhai and so on are overwhelmed, the New Year painting workshops are next to each other, and there are more than sixty New Year painting production workshops and sales shops in Yangliuqing Town, which is one of the best restored New Year painting production areas, and it seems to have returned to the scene of "every family dotting dyeing, household Danqing" during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and tourists who buy New Year paintings are endless all year round.
The country's first woodblock new year painting museum in Yangliuqing Town will hold a series of activities of "Appreciating New Year Paintings and Viewing Folk Customs" every new month.
In the northern house in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum, there is a "stove prince" on the stove that represents the good deeds of heaven and the peace of the earth; on the water tank is pasted a large carp that represents more than one year and has a lively and vivid shape; in the middle of the hall is a painting of Fulu Shou Sanxing Zhongtang to protect the whole family;
The living rooms on both sides, the upper house where the mother-in-law lives, are pasted with New Year paintings with enlightening significance; the lower house where the daughter-in-law lives is pasted with new year paintings of many children and many blessings; and the Kang Weizi paintings with strong local atmosphere are pasted on the kang edge. Visitors to the museum can also experience the process of making woodblock prints.
Walking out of the museum, what I imprinted the most was the gorgeous and vivid painting of Yang Liu Youth, and I could not forget the persistence of the locals to "paste the New Year painting to count the New Year".
Willow youth painting requires a lot of effort to be used for hand painting. The painter of the "New Year Painting Sheet" is focusing on the end of the classic famous painting "More than One Year in a Row"
Nowadays, the improvement and innovation of New Year paintings are new issues faced by elderly young painters and young painters. Although it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, it can be seen that there is a dense taste of life, a rich emotion and aesthetic taste, and a vivid expression of the culture of the year and the dream of Yanhuang for thousands of years.
With a history of more than 2,000 years, the woodblock prints created by Chinese local artists can be called the oldest paintings in the world, the encyclopedia of Chinese folklore and the "living fossils" full of elements of Chinese civilization.
"Yangcheng Evening News" February 3, 2022 A7 evening supplement
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Seventeen woodblock prints selected for national intangible cultural heritage representative projects are listed
1. Henan Kaifeng Zhuxian Town Woodblock New Year Painting:
Simple and clumsy, with a long history, born in the Tang Dynasty, flourishing in the Song Dynasty, the originator of Chinese woodblock prints.
2. Tianjin Yangliu Qing wood prints:
Caters to the interests of the court and the interests of the citizens.
Containing auspicious and happy meanings, the YangLiu youth painting "Hejiale Enron" of "Yucheng Painting Zhuang"
3. Jiangsu Suzhou Peach Blossom Woodblock Prints:
Delicate and neat, rich in color.
The small bridges and flowing waters in Suzhou can be painted by everyone, and the peach blossom woodblock prints that nourish the spirit are outstanding
4. Shandong Weifang Yangjiabu woodblock prints:
Unconstrained by nature, the imagination is rich, and the theme is expressed in a general, romantic, symbolic and allegorical way; the composition is complete, full and symmetrical; the shape is exaggerated, concise and simple.
5. Sichuan Mianzhu woodblock prints:
The writing is thick and the colors are strong.
6. Fujian Zhangzhou woodblock prints:
The regional colors are strong, and the themes of gods and Buddhas are rich and diverse.
7. Guangdong Foshan woodblock prints:
The image is fine, rough and concise, strong and powerful, the composition is full, it is auspicious, and it has strong local characteristics.
8. Hunan Longhui Tantou Woodblock New Year Painting:
The color is unrestrained, orange and red are dazzling, the near color is matched, the lines are rounded, the sense of sportsmanship is strong, and the decorative flavor is strong.
9. Hebei Wuqiang woodblock prints:
Rugged and simple, full of local atmosphere.
10. Chongqing Liangping Woodblock Prints:
The shape is vivid and lively, the color contrast is strong, and it is full of life.
11. Shandong Liaocheng Dongchangfu woodblock prints:
The composition is simple, the overall sense is strong, the character shape is exaggerated, plump and simple, and the lines are round and smooth
12. Shanxi Linfen Pingyang Woodblock Prints:
The shape is exaggerated, the image is vivid, and the decoration is strong.
13. Shaanxi Fengxiang Woodblock Prints:
The style is rough and exaggerated, the color is large and filled, the characters are dynamic, and the gods are powerful.
14. Shandong Yanggu Zhang Qiu woodblock prints:
The composition is plump and well-proportioned and simple.
15, Sichuan Koe woodblock painting:
Colorful and exquisite craftsmanship, it has been on a par with Mianzhu New Year Paintings and Liang Pingnian Paintings.
16. Woodblock Prints of Huaxian County, Henan Province:
The printing process is meticulous and complex, the picture composition is balanced and symmetrical, the image is full and solid, and the lines are strong and powerful.
17. Hubei Laohekou woodblock prints:
The carving is delicate and smooth, the lines are rough and powerful, and the character shapes are vivid and exaggerated.
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Li Li