Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures

Applicant: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Project No.: 302

Project No.: Ⅶ - 3

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Jiangsu Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Protection unit: Suzhou public cultural center (Suzhou Art Museum, Suzhou Culture Museum, Suzhou celebrity Museum)

Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures

Applicant: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures were produced in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, there were dozens of painting shops in Taohuawu in qilishantang and changmen of Suzhou, with an annual output of millions, so it was named Taohuawu.

Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures flourished during the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong in Qing Dynasty. The most prosperous period was Zhang Xingju, Zhang Wenju, Wei Hongtai, LV Yunlin, Lu Fushun, Lu Jiashun, Mo Xiangzhai, Zhang Zai, Taiyuan, Zhang Lin, Ji Xiangji and other painting shops. Later, Wang Rongxing, Chen Tongsheng, Chen Tongxing, Wu Jinzeng, Wu Taiyuan, hongyunge and other painting shops also had a great influence at that time. Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures were once popular in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other places. They were sold to Hubei, Henan, Shandong and spread abroad. Japanese woodcut art, such as Faustian painting, was greatly influenced by it. Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures were also collected in Britain, France, Russia, Germany and so on.

The painting, engraving and printing of Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures are divided into three genealogies. In the long-term creation and production practice, the old artists with unique skills have explored their own unique experience and formed a set of special production procedures.

Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures are generally divided into five processes: painting draft, engraving, printing, mounting and opening. The engraving process is divided into four parts: sample loading, engraving, bottom striking and modification. The main tools are "fist knife". At the same time, it is used with curved chisel, flat chisel, leek edge, needle chisel, root pruning chisel, cutting chisel, water bowl, iron ruler, small brown broom and other tools. There is also a set of procedures for register printing, which mainly includes the steps of plate viewing, color matching, paper selection and feeding (paper clamping), pattern, paper cutting, printing, water clamping, etc.

Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures inherited the engraving and printing technology of Song Dynasty, and used both artificial coloring and color overprint. The main forms of Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures were door painting, nave and strip screen. The themes were praying for good fortune, driving away evil spirits, current affairs and customs, opera stories, etc.

In the past 30 years, with the change of people's life style, the practical function of Taohuawu woodcut New Year pictures has been greatly weakened, but the pure ornamental function has been improved. Changes in the market affect the retention of traditional skills in Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures. The development of modern printing technology has a great impact on the manual plate making and printing skills of traditional woodblock New Year pictures. In this situation, Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures have less and less shops, and it is more and more difficult to inherit the traditional engraving technology and dyeing printing technology, which is in urgent need of rescue and protection.