The art of paper carving in Jintan is unique. While the paper-cut art in other places has gone from popularity to silence, Jintan paper-cut art has become a special form of culture and art, especially in last year's Sino-French cultural year, which caused a sensation in overseas exhibitions. It is said that the paper carving in Jintan originated from the unintentional insertion of willows.
Zhang Qin, director of Jintan paper cutting Research Institute, said that from paper cutting to paper cutting, people all over the country are doing it. However, the reason why Jintan paper carving became an influence and a feature were that in the 1970s, the art creation group of the local cultural museum wanted to send paintings to the exhibition. Because everyone felt that simple painting was not as good as others, and it was difficult for the works to be brilliant, they decided to change the policy and send a high school student's painting carved on the glass to the exhibition. As a result, the unconventional brings unexpected surprises, and the unpopular highlights win the house. After returning to Jintan, the paper cutting industry shocked the local painting industry like a whirlwind, forming an atmosphere in the whole city and sweeping it.
As a matter of fact, as early as the Sui and Tang Dynasties, paper-cut works such as Shuangxi, Xinhua, Tanghua, Denghua, character Xiwen were scattered among the people and followed from generation to generation. At first, people had to design their own designs for new year's holidays, and then put these paper heads on their own doors by cutting and pasting them. In addition, when women embroider or weave, they will first carve out the pattern knife on the paper. Therefore, Jintan paper-cut is rooted in local folk art and derived from paper-cut. Its tools and materials are simple and common. As long as a pair of scissors and a piece of red paper are used, wonderful works can be cut out with dexterous hands, which are most popular among people.
It is said that Jintan paper carving can be divided into two schools. Zhu Xiaokun, the representative of traditional paper carving, has a simple and elegant style and various patterns. There are many characters in his representative work "Qun Xian Zhu Shou", which is rare in the world. On the other hand, Zhou Yunhua and Yang Zhao Qun are the representatives of modern paper cutting. They use the methods of cutting, carving, and tearing, as well as the methods of coloring, dot, filling, and dyeing, and learn from the characteristics of Northwest paper cutting style, and integrate the painting and decoration skills. Their style is fresh and meaningful. Their representative works "ten thousand horses galloping" and "Oriental Song and dance" give off a strong flavor of the times. Whether it is traditional or modern, different from paper-cut with scissors, paper-cut art always abandons the commonplace, which requires rich imagination and grand creative passion.
It turns out that the traditional paper-cut pure scissors, there is no way to cut a large piece of work, the process is difficult to find. The paper is carved with a knife, which can not only carve small pieces on the palm but also require a huge volume of work. For example, in the study of paper carving, the paper carving of Liangshan hero, which is 4.6 meters long, needs three people to support it. It is nearly 1 meter wide. When the whole work is opened, half of the room can be occupied. The hero of Liangshan was created by Zhu Xiaokun when he was 81 years old, but he died on the stage of the character series. In order to fulfill his last wish, the paper engraving Research Institute revised and supplemented it collectively, and then it took four engravers seven years to finally complete it. The 108 heroes above are vivid and vivid with no broken lines.
Don't think that paper cutting is simple, there is no technical content at all. Because they are all made of thin paper or even rice paper, the most worrying thing about carving is the broken lines caused by knife carving. At first, the engravers used various techniques, such as carving and pasting, yin-yang contrast, and hollowing out, on the glass or wax base plate, but sometimes the whole picture can't be continuous. Careful observation can show the flaws of the unsmooth lines. Later, folk artists specially made the stereotype, which was made by burning incense ash and mutton oil. The paper would not be as rigid as glass, and it would not melt in summer.
Recently, the paper cutting Research Institute has organized 10 well-known paper cutting artists and is starting a huge project to carve "from Athens to Beijing" for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The work will be composed of the landmark building signs of the host cities of the previous Olympic Games, the logo of the previous Olympic Games, the dove of peace, the five-ring logo, and the artistic expression patterns of all sports events. The largest paper carving in history is expected to take two years to complete