Bai Fenglian—Master of Ansai paper-cutting art
When talking about Ansai paper-cutting, one representative figure that must be mentioned is Bai Fenglian. Bai Fenglian was born in 1931 in a peasant family in Zhao'an Village, Ansai County. Due to family poverty, Bai Fenglian has suffered many ups and downs and hardships since she was a child. But Bai Fenglian, who is talented and intelligent, faces her own life with an optimistic attitude. When Bai Fenglian was seven or eight years old, the ingenious Bai Fenglian had already picked up the "ancestral" scissors and began to learn paper-cutting. At that time, people called this traditional paper-cutting "jianhua". Because Bai Fenglian was diligent and studious, and was very good at paper-cutting creations. She continued to add her own ideas to it, and by the time she was 13 years old, she had become a paper-cutting expert in the village.
Since there were no dedicated paper-cutting teachers or art schools in the past, Bai Fenglian learned the paper-cutting skills entirely on her own. Bai Fenglian humbly consulted elders who were good at paper-cutting, and at the same time competed with her peers and learned humbly. In the past, there were mountain temples in the villages. The statues in the mountain temples and the murals on the temple walls became Bai Fenglians "teachers". Through imitation and pondering, Bai Fenglian gradually mastered the basic knowledge and skills of composition. In her daily life, the attentive Bai Fenglian carefully observes common flowers, birds, fish and insects, and incorporates their shapes and expressions into the creation of paper-cut patterns with common sense. With the accumulation of experience and skills, Bai Fenglian gradually formed her own unique paper-cutting style.
Bai Fenglian, the representative figure of Ansai paper-cutting (Picture: Impression Xi'an)
When Bai Fenglian was studying and creating paper-cutting, she also learned embroidery, clay sculpture and other crafts like other folk artists. These traditional folk productions played a great help in improving Bai Fenglians paper-cutting skills.
Bai Fenglians paper-cut works are very exquisite in knife skills, fine in paper-cut lines, and fully sophisticated in composition. The bright lines make the paper-cut works full of strong dynamics, while still maintaining the charm of loess in style. With the spring breeze of reform and opening up, theAnsai, Bai Fenglians paper-cutting skills also have the opportunity to meet people across the country! One day in 1979, relevant staff of the Ansai County Cultural Center came to Bai Fenglians home to visit her. Bai Fenglian immediately conquered the staff with her exquisite paper-cut butterflies. Bai Fenglian said that cutting butterflies by herself was a unique skill and she could do it. Cutting out a hundred butterflies is not the same.
Even with her superb paper-cutting skills, Bai Fenglian is still not satisfied with the status quo and hopes that she can make further progress. Bai Fenglian knew that she was still lacking in art theory, so Bai Fenglian received theoretical guidance from Jin Zhilin, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The solid theoretical foundation made Bai Fenglians paper-cutting craft more mature!
Bai Fenglian’s exquisite paper-cutting skills and exquisite paper-cut works have been widely praised by experts and art scholars at home and abroad. Bai Fenglian also hopes that her paper-cutting skills can help more people. She has given many lectures and demonstrated her skills in first-tier mature and higher education institutions such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'an. And paper-cutting exhibitions have been held in France, the United States and other countries. Bai Fenglian was awarded the title of "Shaanxi Folk Artist" by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture in 1996. In 2002, Ansai paper-cutting celebrity Bai Fenglian was officially selected as "World Folk Art Master" by UNESCO!
