Fuyang paper-cut artist

The prosperity and development of Fuyang paper-cutting is inseparable from the hard work of paper-cutting artists of all ages. For more than a thousand years, no one can tell how many paper-cutting artists there have been in Fuyang. But in recent decades, Fuyang paper-cut artists have emerged one after another. Through fieldwork, I learned that paper-cut artists in Fuyang can be roughly divided into two categories: one is original creators, including rural women and peasant artists; the other is professional art workers and art lovers. Their hard work in paper-cutting creation has jointly promoted the prosperity and development of Fuyang paper-cutting.

Fuyang paper-cutting, like paper-cutting in other areas, has many female creators. They have been taught orally and personally from generation to generation. Most of them started to learn how to cut flowers from their mothers when they were 12 or 3 years old. They first copied, drafted and practiced, and then they were confident and could cut as they pleased. This process lasted for more than ten or decades. Their paper-cuts decorate life, and each paper-cut is directly related to life. They are either shoe flowers, pocket flowers, window flowers, pillow flowers, or wedding flowers or gift flowers. Themes include "Butterflies Playing with Lotus", "Xu Zhuangyuan Sacrifice Pagoda", etc. The cloud skirts (cloud shoulders worn by brides when they get married) and cat-head hats they embroider are all based on paper-cut patterns. The three sisters of the late Dai family, the leader of the Fuyang world, the eldest sister cut flowers, the second sister made flowers, and the third sister carved flowers. (Paper-cut work "Butterflies Playing with Peonies") There are also Hu and Zhang, etc. Most of them have no names, but their paper-cut works have been passed down to this day. (Paper-cut work "Phoenix Playing with Peonies")

Paper-cut work Butterfly Playing with Peony Wang Daishi

Farmer paper-cutting artists are mostly men. Unlike the paper-cutting model in the north, which is mostly made by farmers for their own use, in Fuyang, where traditional commerce is relatively developed, paper-cutting has been commercialized very early. Vocational training and business careers have forged many paper-cutting artists. Most of them used paper-cutting to make a living. Carrying a flower pole and traveling around the rivers and lakes, singing flower songs in his mouth, and cutting patterns in his hands that those in need want. Such as Wang Jiahe, Lu Fengmao, Cheng Jianli, Jia Peixiu, etc.

Paper-cut works Fengxi Peony Hu Zhangshi

As for Fuyang paper-cutting enthusiasts, most of them do paper-cutting because of their love for paper-cutting. Such as Zhu Kunying, Liu Zixiu, Liu Tingqing, Liu Jicheng, Ma Ji, etc. They worshiped folk paper-cutting artists as their teachers, learned folk paper-cutting, and integrated their art knowledge into paper-cutting art to explore the new look of Fuyang paper-cutting today.

Whether they are rural women who "produce and sell themselves", or peasant artists who "make a thousand pairs of scissors and feed thousands of families", or art workers who are obsessed with the creation of Fuyang paper-cut patterns, they rely on their own A pair of skillful hands cut out their yearning for a better life, and together they created the glory of Fuyang paper-cutting.

Among these many creators, the artistic style of peasant paper-cutting artist Cheng Jianli is the most outstanding, and his artistic achievements can still represent the highest level of Fuyang paper-cutting today.