For New Year's paintings, we all have a stereotype, either a big fat doll holding a carp or a beautiful photo of all kinds of gods.
But in fact, the themes of New Year's paintings are diverse and the styles are changeable. It is a symbol of the gods and sages, a symbol of blessings and prayers, a symbol of suppressing demons and avoiding evil, a symbol of love and marriage and a symbol of family reproduction, and it is a folk art form with wide influence.
In China, there is probably no type of painting that is richer and more extensive than the genre of New Year paintings, and there is no kind of painting that has a larger number of participants and audiences than New Year paintings.
In the history of art, New Year painting is the largest art category in traditional art, it expresses the aesthetic taste and intention of the majority of the people in the most popular painting language, and its unique artistic charm is talked about by people and lasts for a long time.
For Chinese, who have experienced thousands of years of agrarian society, the rhythm of life and production is synchronized with nature's spring, summer, autumn and winter.
As a festival to remove the old and welcome the new, the Spring Festival is the strongest and most distinctive expression of people's spiritual ideals, life aspirations and aesthetic needs, as well as the ultimate values. For Chinese, New Year paintings are the most flavorful symbol of the Spring Festival.
As early as the Han Dynasty, China had the earliest prototype of New Year paintings. Liang Zongyi of the Eastern Han Dynasty "Jing Chu Years Chronicles" contains: "The first day of the first lunar month,...... Painting two gods sticking to the left and right, the left god, the right Yu Lei, commonly known as the door god. ”
During the Han Dynasty, people have begun to paint the door god directly on the door during the New Year's Festival, and until modern times, some large families still retain this custom of painting the door god.
By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, hand-painted New Year paintings became popular among the upper class and some temples and monasteries.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, engraving printing technology was developed, and the folk began to spread the paper New Year pictures printed by woodblocks, which were later called "woodblock New Year pictures".
During the Song Dynasty, the society was stable, the economy was prosperous, the handicraft industry and industry and commerce were developed, and the citizens' demand for genre paintings increased.
It is recorded in Wu Zimu's "Dream Lianglu" that when the New Year Festival is approaching, "the peach charm of the door is painted, the spring greeting plaque is painted, and the paper horse is printed with Zhong Kui, the wealth horse, and the return horse are given to the customers."
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, woodblock New Year paintings gradually became prosperous, and the well-known "three major folk woodcut New Year paintings" appeared: Yang Liuqing in Tianjin, Taohuawu in Suzhou and Yangjiabu New Year in Weixian County, Shandong.
In addition, Suzhou Taohuawu New Year paintings were introduced to Britain, Germany and Japan very early. Especially in Japan, the "ukiyo-e" prints formed during the Edo period (1603-1867) were influenced by Chinese woodblock prints in terms of expression and artistic style.
In addition, as early as the Southern Song Dynasty, Fujian began to stereotype printing New Year paintings, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Fuding, Fu'an is the center of woodblock New Year paintings in southeast China, and the products are exported to Southeast Asia, and are deeply loved by the majority of overseas Chinese.
It can be said that in history, where there are Chinese, there are New Year paintings. In addition to the famous "South Peach and North Willow", Zhuxian Town, Yangjiabu, Sichuan Mianzhu, there are dozens of famous New Year paintings in China: Tianjin Dongfeng Tai, Hebei Wuqiang, Shanxi Pingyang, Shaanxi Fengxiang, Chongqing Liangping, Hunan Beachhead, Guangdong Foshan, Fujian Zhangzhou...... Most parts of the mainland also have workshops for engraving New Year paintings.
As far as the Yao people in the mountains of the southwest, they print New Year paintings with the theme of "Panwang", and the Manchus in the northeast will also order their own Manchu New Year pictures from the Hebei region.
The Spring Festival is coming, what are your wishes, and what New Year's pictures are you going to put on the wall? After all, we who love life still have to have a sense of ritual to welcome the "New Year"!