▲ Ten Bamboo Zhai Painting Notation Clear color overprint
Chinese traditional woodcut engraving and printing technology began in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, went through the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and has a history of more than 1200 years, creating a precedent for human photocopying technology, greatly promoting the process of civilization, and is one of the great contributions of the ancient working people of the mainland to world civilization. China is also the inventor of chromatic printing, which allows everything in the colorful world to be preserved and spread around the world – mountains and rivers, birds, insects and fish, chess and piano paintings and calligraphy. From the etiquette perspective of "Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji" "the east is called green, the south is called red, the west is called white, the north is called black, the sky is called Xuan, and the earth is called yellow", to the verses of "half river and half river red", to the many common words of green silk haoshou, green face red face, wine green light red, all show colorful colors.
The exhibition "Five Colors : Four Hundred Years of Chinese Chromatic Printmaking Art", which is being held by the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, exhibits more than 120 kinds of color prints and independent works that began in the Ming Dynasty and ended in 2020 and spanned more than 400 years. From this, we can see the charm of traditional Chinese printing technology and the changes of different eras, these precious exhibits have gradually appeared with new concepts and styles in different eras, becoming a precious part of the development process of Chinese art history, printing history, publishing history and book history, and touching the pulse of the times with their vivid vitality.
Weng Lianxi, a research librarian at the Palace Museum, said that from the perspective of existing objects, as early as the ninth year of Tang Xiantong (868), There were exquisitely painted woodblock prints in China, "King Kong Prajnaparamita Honey Sutra". In the long history since then, with the maturity of papermaking and ink making technology, engraving and printing technology has been continuously improved; people have pursued the perfect integration of paper, ink and printing while copying words and images, thus giving birth to color printing technology and applying it in printmaking, making printing an original art form, shining in the world art world, and attracting the attention of the world.
▲ Shufeng Snow Scene Qinggu Su prints
Woodblock color printing is mainly divided into 5 kinds of single-plate multi-color multi-color brush printing, single-plate multi-color multiple brush printing, multi-color multiple overprinting, multi-color multi-color overprinting, and plate arch flower according to the number of brush printing plates and techniques. The earliest surviving color printed object with a clear chronology is the "Notes on the Diamond Sutra" published by Zifu Temple on Zhongxing Road from the Yuan Dynasty to the first year of the Zheng Dynasty (1341). However, this technology did not mature and be widely used until the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and it changed from single-plate multi-color brush printing to multi-plate multi-color overprinting. Each production of a color print needs to be coordinated by a team of painters, engravers, printers and other people under the planning of the publisher, which is a collective artistic creation. In order to make the prints infinitely close to the picture book, all craftsmen need to fully understand the original paintings, present the painter's brushwork in the engraving room, and understand the color changes when brushing. When the rice paper is covered on the woodcut engraving, by wiping and pressing the back of the paper to form a rich color ink blending effect, so that the picture texture is clear, the color is thick and uniform, showing thousands of postures, producing a sense of freshness beyond the original, thus forming a different way of communication and artistic language from painting, with exclusive production techniques and aesthetic traditions, leaving a heavy stroke in the history of world printing in the 18th century, which has a direct and far-reaching impact on Japanese ukiyo-e printmaking and European painting art, and is a milestone in the history of art.
▲ Lap turned spring back Ding Liang first made Gusu prints QingQianlongjian arch flower chromatic prints
"In the vast sea of ancient texts, color prints are like a drop in the ocean, and those who have survived since the Ming Dynasty have long been rare. From the more than 120 components of color prints in this exhibition, it can be seen that new concepts and styles have emerged in each era, and many of them are precious and indispensable parts of the development of Chinese art history, printing history and publishing history. At the same time, the re-creation of Chinese prints has never stopped, and when we use these brilliant and elegant pictures as a resource, it must be an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Weng Lianxi said.
The discovery of the Ming Dynasty's "Luoxuan Changing Ancient Notes" shocked the world, and the maturity of its technology was breathtaking, and the inheritance lasted for 400 years. "Ancient Chinese printmaking has seen a great development in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the late Ming Dynasty, and many exquisite works have emerged. These works not only reflect the superb printmaking skills of the time, but also reflect the artistic position of the literati in many aspects of the time. Dong Jie, a professor at the China Academy of Art, believes that the protagonist behind the printmaking style is still a literati. He called the person who presided over the engraving of books and prints a "book engraver", perhaps a commercial book owner who "sought profit from the original", or a "private book engraver" who had no commercial purpose and only wanted to preserve culture or subservient elegance. Among the engravers who use books as cultural goods, there are also different levels and divisions. The nature, style, function, and what motivates these elements are inseparable from the "engraver". Dong Jie believes that the emergence and prosperity of chromatic printmaking techniques is the artistic contribution of the literati and intellectuals of the Ming Dynasty to the times. For the current printmaking art, on the one hand, it is two things that cannot be abandoned to learn and inherit the ancient printmaking technique of the ancient heart and hand, and on the other hand, to create the printmaking art works of the times commensurate with the level of today's scientific and technological, cultural and social development.
After the founding of New China in 1949, the talents and beauties in the art of chromatic printmaking and The Victory of Hushan turned into the life of laborers and the new world in full swing, and chromatic prints were greatly broadened in subject matter. Since the 1990s, avant-garde artists have no longer been obsessed with the scrutiny and indulgence of chromatic technology, and the huge size and variety of tools have made artists more free in expressing themselves, more impactful in display effects, and more suitable for today's grand art museums - unconsciously, the color set has also jumped from personal private small spaces, books and illustrations used or enjoyed by relatives and friends, independent art works, jumping into public art spaces, competing with the art of other media.
It is not difficult to pay attention to the development of contemporary art, and many contemporary artists with remarkable achievements in today's art world are professional in printmaking or use printmaking to create. This phenomenon raises the question: what is the relationship between printmaking and contemporary art? Is there a unique printmaking mindset behind printmaking art? In this regard, Wu Hongliang, president of the Beijing Academy of Painting, believes that several keywords can be discussed from - "reverse thinking", "layer thinking" and "plurality".
Wu Hongliang believes that a very important feature of contemporary art is "reverse thinking", and the game of positive and negative is precisely the way art is generated today, and its interest is also in it. Moreover, printmaking is different from oil painting and Chinese painting, and it is an indirect creation. Slightly more complex prints require overprinting and coloring, which is essentially a hierarchical thinking. In other words, the combined action of several editions can constitute a complete work. This way of working with system integration is widely seen in modern life, such as the production of a car requires the strict assembly of different parts, and the birth of a design scheme requires the use of several pieces of software. The potential behind "layer thinking" is a rational thinking. Each edition is a part, and the printmaker must carry out a comprehensive plan from the beginning of creation, considering the relationship between the part and the part, and the relationship between the part and the whole. In the printing process, we must also maintain restraint and strive for precision, because the slightest mistake may lead to the wrong version, and if you are not careful, you will lose everything.
In addition, "plurality" is one of the essential characteristics of printmaking. The emergence of printmaking is based on the premise and purpose of the demand for image dissemination, and naturally has the characteristics of "plurality" that is convenient for dissemination, as well as the characteristics of the medium. Today, developed media even dominate the direction of the times, and the value of printmaking thinking as the original vivid energy is naturally worth re-studying.
In short, printmaking thinking can train people to make rational judgments in the face of complex problems, enhance their sensitivity to changes in the world, and enhance their dual control of technology and art. For an art creator, it is undoubtedly a valuable habit of thinking and working. Wu Hongliang said.
April 17, 2022 China Culture Daily
The 3rd edition featured a special report
The Ancient and Modern Art of Chromatic Printmaking
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue