New Year painting is an ancient folk art in China, which has added a lot of prosperity and joy to the festive atmosphere of the Chinese New Year for thousands of households. Tianjin Yang Liuqing's woodblock New Year paintings have been handed down to this day and have a history of more than 400 years.
Xi Wang shows a hand-painted New Year's painting of "More than Lotus Year". Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Siyu
Xi Wang, a woodcut craft artist of Yangliuqing woodblock New Year paintings, said, "I came to Yangliuqing Painting Society just after graduating from university in 2014 and engaged in the woodcarving process of Yangliu Youth Painting. I am a native of Tianjin, and since I was a child, I have developed a feeling for New Year paintings, which is also a kind of enlightenment for me to learn art. The most famous series of Yangliu Youth paintings is the doll series. There is one of the most classic New Year's paintings called 'Lotus Year More', which is an image of a doll holding a fish and holding a lotus flower in her hand. ”
Xi Wang engraved in the Tianjin Yangliuqing Painting Society. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Siyu
Yangliu green woodblock New Year pictures are divided into five major crafts: hooking, engraving, printing, painting, and mounting.
Xi Wang said that woodcut is the second step in the process of the whole system, the step of connecting the previous and the next, and the process of second creation. "We have to sketch the first step, and the line drawn by the teacher will make some fine-tuning in the process of engraving. When we carve, we can make the facial features of the doll, for example, more flexible, more fine, or slightly thicker in some places. ”
At the Tianjin Yangliuqing Painting Society, Xi Wang (right) and his colleagues discuss the cultural and creative products of New Year paintings. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ran
The times are changing, and new patterns are constantly appearing in the inheritance of Yangliu and green woodblock New Year paintings.
Xi Wang said, "Now I am the youngest inheritor of the painting club. As a young person, I don't think New Year's pictures have to stay on paper. Our art club has also developed T-shirts, keychains, red envelopes and other objects with elements of New Year's paintings, showing a kind of understanding and innovation of traditional art as young people in the new era, and also hope to cultivate more New Year's painting lovers and let more young people like this traditional art. ”