The color of Shoushan stone is changeable, and in the process of creation, it is necessary to use stone art and color to be clever, and it is necessary to carry out difficult carving. Lin Fei, a master of Chinese arts and crafts and a Shoushan stone carving artist, is performing his skillful carving skills. Photo by Chen Weikai
Shoushan Stone is a treasure of China, one of the "Four Great Seal Stones" of Chinese tradition, distributed in the "Golden Triangle" area at the junction of Jin'an District of Fuzhou City with Lianjiang County and Luoyuan County. As a unique precious stone in Fuzhou, Shoushan stone is crystal clear, greasy, colorful, bright in color, clear in color, with rare and humanistic characteristics, and is deeply loved by people at home and abroad.
Due to the "warm luster and easy to play the knife" characteristics of Shoushan stone, it has long been used as a material for carving. In 1965, archaeologists in Fuzhou unearthed two Shoushan stone pig figurines from a Southern Dynasty tomb in Wufengshan, a northern suburb of the city. This shows that Shoushan stone has been used as a carving material since the Southern Dynasty at least 1500 years ago. Seal carvers of the Yuan Dynasty used ye wax stone as a printing material, so that the Shoushan stone was crowned as the first of the "Three Treasures of The Seal Stone" and ascended to the hall of cultural elegance. Coupled with the favor of the Ming and Qing emperors, Shoushan stone carving has become a cultural and artistic treasure loved by the people from the emperor to the people.
Shoushan stone carving techniques are rich and diverse, exquisite and mature, in the process of development, a wide range of acquisitions, the integration of Chinese painting and various folk crafts of carving techniques and artistic essence, the works have a wide range of themes, there are characters, animals, landscapes, flowers and birds and other categories. During the Tongzhi and Guangxu years of the Qing Dynasty, Shoushan stone carving formed its own unique style, and two major schools of East Gate and West Gate appeared.
The Dongmen school is mainly concentrated in the Area of Houyu Island in Gushan, Fuzhou, and the main technique of this genre is circular carving, which is also known as three-dimensional carving, and the viewer can see all sides of the object from different angles. It requires the engraver to engrave in an all-round way from front to back, left, right, up, middle and down. It is the oldest and most basic technique of Shoushan stone carving. The round sculpture works of Lin Qianpei, the originator of the Dongmen Sect, are mostly based on the theme of immortal Buddha figures, and the statues focus on conveying the gods, with a short skull, a relatively fat image, and the clothing patterns are like clouds and water, and the wind is fluttering. Lin Yuanzhu, Zheng Renjiao, Lin Youzhu, and other descendants of the Dongmen Sect are masters of circular carving. Lin Yuanzhu also created a "three-dimensional sculpture" that combines characters and landscapes on the basis of round carvings, which are used to express folklore, mythological stories and opera plots. Zheng Renjiao absorbs the strengths of wood carving, ivory carving, and bluestone carving, and integrates it into the Shoushan carving, making it look new.
The Ximen school is mainly concentrated in the Hongshan area of Fuzhou, the genre is famous for its good carving of yinnu, Bogu, And Boyi, and the Ximen school represented by Pan Yumao and Pan Yuquan has created a thin art technique with Chinese painting characteristics from the traditional button printing technique, leaving many rare treasures for the world. After the West Gate Sect master Lin Qingqing pushed the art of Bo Yi to a new peak, becoming a generation of Bo Yi masters, known as "Ximen Qing". He absorbed the essence of Chinese painting art, melted and painted in one furnace, and used a knife to write instead, "applying art according to the material, skillfully covering up flaws" and "using stone diseases to see nature", creating a unique artistic realm.
In May 2006, Shoushan stone sculpture was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. In November 2019, Shoushan Stone Sculpture was included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage representative project protection units.
The heavenly beauty stone, the ingenuity of the craftsman, a piece of Shoushan stone can see the majesty of the mountain, the beauty of the water, the ethereal spirit of the clouds, the elegance of the people, the cuteness of things... It combines the divine beauty of nature with the wisdom of human beings, telling the distance of time and space and the power of life. Photo by Chen Weikai
Shoushan stone is rich in color, with the exploration and innovation of generations of craftsmen, the carving ideas continue to expand, the use of natural beautiful colors of stone for creation, known as "smart carving", "beautiful carving" or "clever", has become a significant feature of Shoushan stone carving. The old saying "one phase top nine workers" means that each piece of raw material is an individual with self-characteristics, which requires the artist to conceive the whole according to the form and color of shoushan stone, try to make good use of the pretty color, and strive to achieve an overall natural artistic effect, which puts forward extremely high requirements for the artistic achievements and carving experience of the craftsmen.
Pretty color carving has gradually developed and flourished in the process of the development of the east and west gates of Fuzhou. Today, although each lineage has its own unique skills, there is no difference in the pursuit of a holistic and beautiful layout concept. Lin Fei, a master of Chinese arts and crafts and a Shoushan stone carving artist, combines the strengths of the two schools of eastern and western doors, combines relief carving, thin meaning, circular carving, skeleton carving, through carving, chain carving and other techniques, with a rigorous attitude, with the carving knife in his hand, with a unique artistic language, expressing his aesthetic concept. From the scraping of the lines to the spatial layout, as if it is shaped at will, each work reveals the artist's own spiritual portrayal and enthusiasm for life. Even if it is a traditional theme, he can always give it a new aesthetic connotation with a keen perspective, and express his mind free, sincere and simple.
The grasp of the integrity of the work also stems from his experience as a scholar and artist. Lin Fei was born in a family of Shoushan stone carving art, his father Lin Hengyun and his brother Lin Dong, both masters of Chinese arts and crafts. Perhaps because of his father's true heritage, he was invited by the Fujian Luoyuan Carving Factory to be the first master at the age of 19. After resuming the college entrance examination, he studied at the Fujian Provincial Arts and Crafts School and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, systematically studied and studied sculpture theory, and the "holistic" concept of his teacher, the famous sculpture artist Liang Mingcheng, had a profound impact on his future creations.
In the carving studio, one life after another bloomed under Lin Fei's small carving knife, and one after another handed down works were born. Photo by Chen Weikai
Pretty color craft: characters, red flags, rocks are tricked according to the texture of stone color. Photo by Chen Weikai
In the process of creation, it is necessary to make a knife in stone, and constantly fine-tune according to the color texture. Photo by Chen Weikai
Don't have a ziren legend, the essence of the heavenly work. Photo by Chen Weikai
The carving knife is interesting. Photo by Chen Weikai
In recent years, Lin Fei's three giant sculptures "Gutian Conference", "Jinggangshan Huishi" and "Over the Snow Mountain" were exhibited at the National Art Museum of China's "Tribute to New China, Striving for a New Era - Shoushan Stone Rhyme Art Exhibition", he made good use of the color texture of the rough stone for the overall beautiful color conception, through the grand narrative technique, showing the tough and fearless heroism of the Red Army.
Lin Fei's giant work "Gutian Conference", with a net weight of about 1.1 tons and a height of 1.5 meters, has created a record for Shoushan stone carvings. Source: Fujian Pictorial
Lin Fei's giant work "Jinggangshan Huishi". Source: Fujian Pictorial
Lin Fei's giant work "Over the Snow Mountain". Source: Fujian Pictorial
For the inheritance and development of the art of Shoushan stone carving, Lin Fei believes that Shoushan stone carving is like giving Shoushan stone a second life, carving properly is like heaven, the mediocre is violent, the most critical thing for the learner is the basic skills, including modeling ability, expression ability, cultural accomplishment, art theory, etc., these kung fu can not be practiced in one year or two years, only by combining comprehensive knowledge accumulation, skilled carving techniques and years of observation and thinking, can the treasures of nature and the ingenuity of craftsmen be integrated into one furnace. Maximize the aesthetic value and humanistic value of Shoushan stone carving.
Source: Fujian Pictorial
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Editor: Chen Jingru
Editor-in-charge: Hong Chenying