A brief introduction to the Chinese folk paper-cutting art
When you open the atlas of Chinese paper-cutting art, you can clearly feel the fresh, simple and eclectic artistic atmosphere unique to paper-cutting art, which makes people feel intoxicated and forget to leave. In this vast art world, there are graceful peonies, naive piglets, lifelike characters, and the infinite scenery of Saibei and Jiangnan, making people feel like they are in a leisurely paradise.
Paper-cutting is an art of carving and hollowing out flat paper. In terms of its use, it is generally used to decorate the home and beautify the environment, such as window grilles, door grilles, cigarette lattice, ceiling flowers, etc. At the same time, this kind of folk art It heightens the atmosphere in the environment of the seasons and life rituals, and creates a festive, prosperous and peaceful atmosphere, such as the door notes posted during the Spring Festival, the paper-cutting of lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the paper-cutting of wedding flowers, and the paper-cutting of birthday gifts. longevity flower paper-cutting, in addition, there are funeral customs paper-cutting in funeral ceremonies, etc. As a kind of folk art, paper-cutting has occurred, developed and been passed down among the people, and has accumulated profound cultural accumulation. From the perspective of paper-cuttings status in the history of arts and crafts, it is the mother culture of many art forms, such as the widely used printed cloth leaks, the production of props for folk shadow puppet shows, and the production of shoe soles, shoe uppers, insoles and so on in rural areas. Many crafts such as embroidery are based on paper cutting.
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From the perspective of the origin of paper-cutting, it should be said that paper-cutting began only after the invention of paper, but before that, there was already the prototype of paper-cutting art. The Shang Dynasty Kui unearthed from archaeological excavations near Zhengzhou, Henan Gold pieces with phoenix patterns, tigers, elephants, beasts, birds and cloud patterns unearthed from the Han Dynasty unearthed in Shaanxi were carved with gold and silver foil. These arts are called "paper-cutting-like". The archaeological excavation results of these "paper-cutting-like" have shown that these The forms of decorations and paper-cutting are similar. The only difference between them is the material. Therefore, after the invention of paper, the emergence of paper-cutting is also reasonable. Since the emergence of paper-cutting in human history, it has always taken root and been passed down and developed among the people. It faithfully reflects the social customs, social environment, thinking habits, historical changes and other comprehensive factors, and has become an important part of traditional Chinese culture.
Paper-cut works are not easy to preserve, so it is difficult for us to see them todayWhen it comes to historical relics, the information we obtain is mostly through written records. What is even more difficult is that paper-cutting is a folk art and is rarely mentioned in official history and literati works. The earliest records are recorded in "Historical Records" in which King Cheng of Zhou "cut the tongs and became his younger brother", and in the Jin Dynastys "Sou Shen Ji" it was recorded that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked a warlock to cut paper to summon the soul of Mrs. Li, although we cannot take this association as the origin of paper-cutting. , but it can be inferred to be the earliest record of the prototype of paper-cutting. From here we can see that whether it is King Zhou Chengs joke about cutting tung leaves as a brother-in-law, or Emperor Wu of the Han Dynastys witchcraft significance of paper-cutting, we can all know that people have given it a certain spiritual connotation since paper-cutting took shape. .
The art of paper-cutting originated from the folk. To be more precise, the art of paper-cutting is an art of women, because women account for the vast majority of paper-cutting creative groups. In the long history of China, folk women have been in the social At the bottom of the society, their fate is in the hands of divine power, monarchy, and husband power. Therefore, in the pure land of paper-cutting, they vent their emotions to their hearts content. This emotional venting is often expressed through symbolic means. In this pure land, On the Internet, giving birth to children, raising children, and motherly love are also things they want to express. And they often express their thoughts and wishes with the help of certain natural objects as expressions. For example, farmers may often see pomegranate trees, so paper-cutting artists use the pomegranate to pray for more children. So, The image of pomegranate was born, and it was given the auspicious meaning of "a pomegranate blooming with hundreds of seeds". Among the paper-cut works that express maternal love, the aesthetic appeal of paper-cut is particularly obvious, because in the eyes of a mother, all plants are beautiful, and all animals are as cute as their own children. The tigers they express are so naive and the lions are like As docile as a puppy, they also created combinations of dolls and chickens, dolls and fish, and there were many themes for teaching children, such as "Mother Meng cut off her machine" and "Lying on the Ice to Seek Fish", etc. These paper-cut works are full of folk aesthetic taste , and at the same time reflect the hope of the mother. This kind of paper-cutting reflects the mothers auspicious wishes that her son will have good luck, grow up safely, and "carp leap over the dragons gate" and "promote three levels in a row".
In paper-cutting works, paper-cutting artists express their own aesthetic feelings and aesthetic ideals freely and unrestrainedly. They completely start from their own ideals, hobbies and interests. "In order to look good, you must always choose interesting cuts." "Painting all depends on ingenuity." The flowers cut by rural women are all flowers from their hearts. They are not as similar as the real ones, but they are much more beautiful than the real ones. In their aesthetic creation, they respect objective objects and are not restricted by specific forms. Respect the spiritual requirements of the subject, and reorganize and arrange the existence of the objective reality world according to ones own aesthetic ideals, transform them into purposeful existence, and endow objective objects with the beautiful symbolic connotation of the subject.This is indeed an aesthetic realm of "sound from the heart" and "satisfaction and forgetfulness".
