In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, New Year pictures developed greatly. On the one hand, secular images such as ladies and Buddhist images such as medicine forks are added to the theme of door paintings; On the other hand, with the rise of block printing, the images of folk gods, Taoist gods and Buddhist gods born out of witchcraft culture are no longer attached to door paintings, but find new carriers and become the origin of paper horse art.
New Year pictures gradually matured in the Northern Song Dynasty. The prosperity of commercial economy and the rise of civic culture provide a broad market for New Year pictures. The wide application of block printing laid the foundation for the spread of New Year pictures. During this period, there appeared a painting market for selling New Year pictures and a workshop for making New Year pictures, which reflected that the New Year pictures in Song Dynasty had changed from religious belief to secular goods and developed into an independent painting.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, New Year pictures flourished, and many production centers of New Year pictures were formed in China: Taohuawu in Suzhou and Yangliuqing in Tianjin, which are known as "southern peaches and northern poplars", as well as Yangjiabu in Shandong, Mianzhu in Sichuan, Wuqiang in Hebei, New Year pictures in Foshan and Zhuxian Town in Henan.
Although the New Year pictures matured in the Song Dynasty, the name "New Year pictures" appeared in the late Qing Dynasty. The New Year pictures in Song Dynasty were called "paper pictures", in Yuan Dynasty they were called "pictures for dispelling cold" and in Ming Dynasty they were called "painting stickers". In the early Qing Dynasty, New Year pictures were called "protection pictures" in Beijing, "happy pictures" or "flower paper" in Hangzhou and "painting" in Suzhou. During the Daoguang period, the word "New Year pictures" first appeared, but it was not accepted by people. During Guangxu period, New Year pictures were also called "paintings" or "paper paintings". It was not until the Republic of China that Shanghai lithographs were agreed to be promoted as "New Year pictures". Since then, the word "New Year pictures" has been widely used.
Tianjin Yangliuqing New Year Pictures, Suzhou Taohuawu New Year Pictures, Weifang Yangjiabu New Year Pictures and Hebei Wuqiang New Year Pictures are called the four woodblock New Year Pictures in China, each with its own characteristics and its heyday. However, in the 1980s, the New Year pictures in the four major producing areas were on the verge of extinction. "In fact, as early as the early years of the Republic of China, New Year pictures began to disappear, and they disappeared in Shanghai." Feng Jicai said, "In other words, Shanghai clearly shows the trace of the disappearance of New Year pictures."
In the early years of the Republic of China, Suzhou Taohuawu New Year Pictures entered the Shanghai market and gradually evolved into "New Year Pictures for Primary Schools". "The' New Year Pictures of Primary Schools' reflect the life in the concession and have a strong spirit of the times and local characteristics." Feng Jicai said, "However, with the entry of western printing technology, the fate of Chinese New Year pictures has changed. The first is the introduction of lithography, which is rich in color and low in cost, thus replacing the woodblock New Year pictures; Then, offset printing replaced lithograph, so' New Year pictures' appeared, and many New Year picture painters were born in Shanghai. Until 1950s, painters such as Liu Danzhai, Cheng Shifa and Ren Lvying were all engaged in the creation of New Year pictures. But in general, due to the introduction of printing technology, woodblock New Year pictures have withdrawn from the historical stage, and those later New Year pictures can't see the unique flavor of China Woodblock New Year pictures. " Feng Jicai pointed out that the changes of times and lifestyles are also the reasons for the disappearance of New Year pictures. "With the changes of society, there is no kitchen god, no sacrifice to god, no festivals and customs, and natural New Year pictures lose the meaning of' Year'; Secondly, everyone is very particular about home decoration now, and the quality of paper printed by block printing is not good. In the past, everyone used paste stickers, but now it is impossible; Third, after the Cultural Revolution, our feelings for tradition, history and land were interrupted, but when everything was restored, it was greatly impacted by the outside world, which made us indifferent to tradition. "
New Year pictures are folk art with the most regional characteristics. Different cultures and customs in different places have given birth to colorful New Year pictures. Due to the differences in environment and customs, New Year pictures in different places have their own local characteristics in color, composition, modeling and function.
Taohuawu New Year Pictures
Taohuawu New Year Pictures, located in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, are folk woodcut New Year Pictures that spread in vast areas of the south of the Yangtze River. It started in the Ming Dynasty and flourished in the Qing Dynasty, just like Yangliuqing New Year pictures in the north. At first, it sold pen-and-ink paintings, and later it was changed to lettering and color matching. During the years of Yongzheng and Qianlong, most of them were filled with color, and some of them were filled with color after overprinting. In the later period, color overprint is the main color, and the colors are mostly red, yellow, blue, green and purple overprint on ink lines. Strong sense of picture and strong decoration. His painting style has influenced many areas, such as Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou.
Taohuawu New Year pictures are exquisitely carved and beautifully made, with opera stories, classical novels and local customs as the main themes. I like to use plant colors such as Sophora japonica in color, which not only has a distinct contrast effect, but also makes people feel soft and elegant. In the late Qing Dynasty, Taohuawu New Year pictures absorbed the light and dark structure of western paintings and some perspective paintings in techniques, which made the New Year pictures more realistic. Its themes are: Tiger Fighting in Song Wu, Legend of the White Snake, Romance of the West Chamber, Three Beautiful Pictures, Bai Zi, Suzhou Nagato, Flowers, Farming and Weaving, Harvest Year in Daqing, Yue Bai, Playing with Snow, Shouzi and so on.
Liuqing Yang
Yangliuqing is located in the land and water transportation hub of Tianjin, adjacent to the ancient capital Beijing. Folk woodblock New Year pictures rose in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties and flourished during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. In the past, there was a saying in Yangliuqing that "every family can touch it and every family is good at painting". Yangliuqing New Year pictures are popular in the vast areas of northern China, and the northern New Year pictures are all influenced by Yangliuqing New Year pictures, which shows its importance.
The main form of Yangliuqing New Year pictures is black-and-white woodcut line drawing, which is depicted in color. The composition is full, the shape is simple, the color is bright, the decoration is strong and the content is extremely rich.
Figure painting is the "bright spot" of Yangliuqing New Year pictures, among which lady painting and doll painting are very popular. Fuwa Beibei was inspired by Yangliuqing New Year pictures-lotus flowers are more than a year old.
Because the hands and faces of the characters are smudged and used to pay tribute to the capital at that time, the paintings have the aesthetic interest of palace paintings in shape and color. In addition, Yangliuqing New Year pictures are also painted by many literati painters, so they are full of the tranquility and serenity of literati paintings, which are characterized by soft colors, rich colors and vivid characters.
Yangjiabu in Shandong Province
The early Shandong New Year pictures, represented by the prints of Dongchangfu and Yangjiabu in Liaocheng, were mostly works of gods and buddhas, with rough style, and had reached a considerable scale in the Ming Dynasty. Later, Shandong New Year pictures were influenced by Yangliuqing New Year pictures, and the theme was constantly expanding; However, it has its own simple and vivid characteristics in painting style, forming a unique style. Shandong New Year pictures are rich in content, and the works reflecting rural life have a strong local flavor. The use of color is also quite exaggerated, bold and strong, with great contrast; The lines are wild and informal, with the special flavor of peasant paintings.
Wuqiang New Year Pictures
Folk woodblock New Year pictures popular in North China are named after they are mainly produced in Wuqiang County, Hebei Province. It is a woodcut print made by color overprinting through three processes: painting, carving and printing. It began in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty and flourished from Kangxi to Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty. By the beginning of this century, there were nearly 140 painting shops in Nanguan, Wuqiang County, and there were thousands of New Year painting workshops in nearby villages, so Wuqiang County was called "the hometown of New Year pictures". Wuqiang New Year pictures have a wide range of themes, diverse forms and strong local flavor. The composition of the work is full, the theme is prominent, the structure is compact, the lines are rough, and the colors such as black, red, green, yellow, purple and pink are used, which are bright and decorative. There are fine, coarse and fine carving methods, especially bold, rough and natural carving methods, mainly male carving, and some female carving. Through the contrast between black and white, it shows the wooden taste of the knife and the ink meaning of the pen, making it a unique simple and naive style. The main themes are operas and stories, customs and fashions, holiday meanings, dolls and beautiful women, flowers and scenery. His masterpieces include Xun Mei Walking in the Snow, Sanniang's Godson, and Zhaozhou Stone Bridge.
Mianzhu New Year Pictures
Mianzhu in Sichuan is rich in household paper, which provides natural and high-quality materials for the development of New Year pictures. Mianzhu New Year pictures began to flourish in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, and formed a prosperous situation in Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty. Mianzhu is the largest producer of New Year pictures in southwest China. Most of them are printed with wooden blocks, and then filled with color to open them. It fully absorbs the color style of architectural painting, and the color is concise and clear, without losing the manual effect of pen and ink contact, with rough shape and gorgeous color. This is most obvious in the unique theme of figure painting "feet full of water" (or feet full of water).
Zhuxian Town New Year Pictures
It was named after it was produced in Zhuxian Town near Kaifeng City, Henan Province. It began in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At that time, there were more than 300 New Year pictures workshops in Zhuxian Town, and there were more than 70 in the late Qing Dynasty. Among them, Wantong, Tianxingde, Deshengchang and Tianyi De are famous. Zhuxian Town woodcut New Year pictures are mainly divided into two types: negative engraving and positive engraving. There are two forms of black-and-white painting and color matching painting, and manual watermarking is used. There are more than 2000 forms such as civil and military door gods, statues, scripts and hanging notes. The woodcut New Year pictures in Zhuxian Town have five characteristics: first, the lines are rough and the thickness is alternating; Second, the image is exaggerated, with a big head and a small body; Third, the composition is full and symmetrical; Fourth, bright colors and strong contrast; Fifth, the door gods are many codes, serious and dignified. Mr. Lu Xun spoke highly of this: "The woodcut New Year pictures in Zhuxian Town are very good, and the lines carved are thick and strong, which is different from other places, not finely carved." These woodcuts are simple, with no powder and no coquettish characters. They are very strong in color, have a local flavor and have the unique characteristics of woodcut New Year pictures in the north. "
Foshan new year pictures
Popular folk woodblock New Year pictures in southern China. Produced in Foshan Town, Guangdong Province (now Foshan City). It began in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty and flourished in Qianlong and Jiajing period of Qing Dynasty. Foshan New Year pictures are divided into original pictures, woodcuts and woodcuts, including door pictures and idol pictures. The selected themes are all kinds of gods, historical figures, drama stories and so on. Its characteristics are rigid, extensive, concise lines and interesting woodcuts. In color design, red, orange, yellow, green and other colors are used, and some of them also absorb the characteristics of local copper-lined paper-cutting art, and add gold and silver patterns to the armor robes of the figures in the paintings, making the statues resplendent. This strong decorative style is a major feature of Foshan New Year pictures.