Chinese paper-cutting and world paper-cutting—paper-cutting culture
Paper-cutting is a worldwide art. In China, South Korea, Japan, and India in Asia, as well as in Germany and France in Europe, paper-cutting art has a long history of development. In North America, there is also the newly developed United States. Modern paper cutout. Western paper-cutting focuses on the reproduction of real situations, real scenes and objects, and has a distinct painterly quality. Asian paper-cutting is more lively, graceful and delicate, mostly expressed in two-dimensional planes, and its themes tend to be traditional.
For example: Japanese paper-cutting and Chinese paper-cutting mostly express folk stories and daily life. There are auspicious paper-cutting and decorative paper-cutting accompanying celebrations. Japanese paper-cutting pays attention to the distribution and description of artistic conception, showing the sad and mysterious beauty of the nation. Chinese paper-cutting focuses on the combination and deformation of patterns, such as the combination of lotus leaves and fish, the combination of cranes and plum blossoms, etc. While paying attention to patterns, it also pays attention to the meaning of auspiciousness and blessing. China now also follows the tradition of every household posting stickers during the New Year. In the custom of paper-cut window grilles, the contents of the paper-cuts posted are mainly about cutting auspicious patterns, hoping for good weather in the coming year. Paper-cut works based on this purpose must pay more attention to the meaning of auspiciousness and blessing. In terms of expression techniques, traditional Chinese paper-cutting Emphasizing the "scissors flavor", the works are clumsy but clever, with clumsy outlines but full of charm.
As for modern Western paper-cutting, it developed from silhouettes in the early days. Later, it was mostly expressed as three-dimensional paper-cutting, paper carving, or other vocabulary that emphasized art through paper-cutting. We can see the almost pure expression of color in the paper-cuts created by the early "fauvist master" Matisse. His paper-cuts are mostly based on colorful collages. After cutting out the shapes, they can be rearranged and combined, just like his oil paintings. He pays great attention to the color matching of paper-cut works and does not put too much emphasis on the "cutting" itself. Therefore, there are still obvious differences between Eastern and Western paper-cut art.
