The formation process of paper-cutting was earlier than that of Tang Dynasty.
Paper was invented in the Western Han Dynasty (6th century BC). Before that, there could be no paper-cutting art. But at that time, people used very thin materials to make handicrafts by hollowing out and carving, but it was popular long before paper appeared, that is, patterns were cut on gold foil, leather, silk and even leaves by carving, carving, picking, carving and cutting. According to historical records, Jian Tong's younger brother described it. In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Chengwang cut it with buttonwood leaves. Gui？ Give it to your brother and seal it as Tang Hou. During the Warring States period, leather carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from Chu Tomb No.1 in Jiangling, Hubei Province) and silver foil carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from the Warring States site in Guwei Village, Huixian County, Henan Province) were all demolished together with paper-cutting, and their appearance laid a certain foundation for the formation of folk paper-cutting.
Are there any Mulan words in the Southern and Northern Dynasties? Yellow decal on the mirror? This poem. China's earliest paper-cut works are found in five paper-cuts of the Northern Dynasty (AD 386-58 1 year) unearthed near the Flame Mountain in Turpan, Xinjiang. These paper-cuts are folded repeatedly, and the images are not covered with each other.
the Tang Dynasty
Paper-cutting has been in a period of great development in the Tang Dynasty. Is there anything in Du Fu's poem Peng ADB? Warm soup is enough for me to drink and paper is enough for my soul? The custom of paper-cutting evocation has been circulating among the people at that time. The paper-cut in the Tang Dynasty, which is now in the British Museum, shows that the paper-cut at that time had a high level of manual art and a complete picture composition, expressing an ideal realm between heaven and earth. Popular in the Tang Dynasty, its carved flower and tree patterns have the characteristics of paper-cutting, such as paper-cutting in Masakura, Japan. To sheep? The pattern of its sheep is a typical paper-cut manual artistic expression. In the Tang dynasty, there was also block printing made of paper-cutting. People carved it into wax paper with thick paper, and then printed the dye on the cloth to form beautiful patterns. In addition, the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes also unearthed paper-cuts from the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, such as the Twin Deer Pagoda, Pagoda, Deer Pagoda and Pagoda. Merit flower paper? One is mainly used to worship Buddha statues and decorate temples and Dojo. Its picture composition is complex and its content is specific, and there are ink paintings such as "Bodhisattva" and "Embracing Bodhisattva", which are works of paper-cutting and painting.
Song dynasty
During the Southern Song Dynasty, professional artists took paper-cutting as their profession. According to the song dynasty's careful "Wulin old story", Hangzhou at this time? Small economy? As many as hundreds. Among them, are there any special ones? Cut the pattern? Who is good at cutting? What are the calligraphy characters of each family? Some specialize in cutting? Various colors and patterns? .
In Song Dynasty, the paper industry was mature and there were many kinds of paper products, which provided conditions for the popularization of paper-cutting. Like being a folk gift? Fireworks? Stick it on the window? Window grilles? , or used to decorate lanterns and teacups. The application scope of folk paper-cutting in Song Dynasty gradually expanded. Jiangxi Jizhou Kiln uses paper-cut as the pattern of ceramics, and makes the ceramics more exquisite by glazing and firing. Folk also use paper-cutting to carve figures in shadow play with the skins of animals such as donkeys, cows, horses and sheep. Carved version made of blue printed cloth, carved into patterns with oilpaper board, and scratched patterns made by paper-cutting technology, divided into yin and yang engraving. Long lines should be cut off to distinguish facts from truth.
Ming and Qing dynasties
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the paper-cut handicraft art matured and reached its peak. Folk paper-cut handicraft art has a wider range of applications, such as flower decorations on folk lanterns, decorative patterns on fans and embroidery patterns, all of which are reprocessed with paper-cut as decoration. More people in China often use paper-cutting as decorations to decorate their homes and beautify their home environment. For example, door battlements, window grilles, cabinet flowers, wedding flowers and ceiling flowers are all used to decorate doors, windows and rooms.
Although the art of paper-cutting came from the people, it became a national art in the Qing Dynasty, and even the royal family and the country at that time could not do without paper-cutting. The Kunning Palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing is the wedding bridal chamber of the Qing emperor. According to Manchu custom, the window paper of the front and rear windows of the palace is pasted outside. There are black wallpaper on the four corners of the wall? Hey? Word paper-cut corner flowers, the center of the ceiling is black dragon and phoenix flower paper-cut. Paper-cuts are also posted on the walls of the aisles on both sides of the palace. Judging from the pattern, material and color of paper-cutting, compared with the ceiling flowers and wall flowers of ordinary farmers, there is basically no difference except that the pattern of paper-cutting is slightly larger.
Modern Times
Early 20th century? May 4th Movement? Under the advocacy of advanced intellectuals such as Cai Yuanpei, Lu Xun, Liu Bannong and Zhou Zuoren, the New Culture Movement laid the embryonic form of China folklore. They widely collect folk literature and materials, and also try to collect folk art works, including folk paper-cutting. In 1930s, the artist Chen Zhinong started the research and creation of folk paper-cutting in Beijing. In the form of sketches and silhouettes, he described a large number of local conditions and customs in old Beijing, such as street vendors, workshop craftsmen, food stalls and tea pickers, fairs and temple fairs, and idle people in markets.
In the 1940s, paper-cutting with real life as its theme began to appear. 1942, Mao Zedong pointed out in his speech at the Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art? Literature and art serve workers, peasants and soldiers? Literary policy. Since then, artists from Lu Yi, Yan 'an, such as Chen Shuliang, Zhang Ding, Li Qun, Gu Yuan, Xia Feng, etc., began to learn local folk paper-cuts with a deep mass base, collected, excavated, sorted out and studied folk paper-cuts, and created a large number of new paper-cuts reflecting the production, life and fighting of the people in the border areas. The works adopt the traditional folk style and describe the new contents of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the border area construction. It promoted the emergence and development of mass paper-cutting and innovated the traditional folk paper-cutting. During the period of 1944, the northwest folk new paper-cut works were exhibited in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border region for the first time, which opened the prelude to the development of paper-cut art after the founding of New China. It can be said that Yan 'an paper-cutting has created a new era of Chinese paper-cutting.
After the founding of New China, in? Let a hundred flowers blossom and bring forth the new? Under the guidance of literature and art policy, artists have created a large number of new paper-cuts that express new socialist people and new things, which has opened up the way for paper-cutting creation and enriched the forms and contents of China folk decorative arts. In the creation of new paper-cutting, children, sports, acrobatics, singing and dancing have also become the most common themes of paper-cutting.
Paper-cut art has never been interrupted in the history of China since its birth. It is rich in various folk activities, and it is one of the richest art forms in China folk history and culture.
Methods and skills of paper cutting 1. folding
It is the most basic paper-cutting technique to produce repeated patterns after origami, and it is also a kind of expression technique adopted by monochrome paper-cutting. The different effects it produces depend on the number and angle of folding. When cutting flowers by this process, the paper can be folded for two or three times and then cut, and the pattern obtained is uniform on four or six sides. If you cut animals or people, the shape after folding once is symmetrical. Folding paper-cut is a symmetrical pattern, so the resulting graphics are more rhythmic. This technique is mostly used to cut happy flowers and ceiling flowers.
Second, yin and yang engraving
The basic effect of paper-cutting is achieved by using yin-yang lines alone or in combination.
Engraving, also known as carving, is a method of carving out the outline representing the structure of an object and expressing lines on a large block. This effect is thick and strong, with a strong sense of weight and a strong sense of contrast between black and white. The cut blank forms a pattern and the lines are not connected.
Male carving is also called carving, which is just the opposite of female carving, that is, carving the blank part and keeping the outline. The lines of the pattern are solid and the lines are connected. This method is smooth, clear and delicate.
The combination of yin and yang is the best paper-cutting performance. There are two engraving methods for the same work, yin and yang, which make the composition varied, and the black, white and gray in the picture form a sharp contrast. It is an expressive paper-cutting technique.
Third, perforation