What is the traditional culture of paper cutting

Chinese paper-cutting is a kind of folk art that uses scissors or carving knives to cut and carve patterns on paper, which is used to decorate life or cooperate with other folk activities. So do you know about Chinese paper cutting? Let's come together to learn about it.

Paper cutting is a popular Chinese folk art form with a long history and wide circulation. The so-called paper-cutting is to use scissors to cut paper into a variety of patterns, such as window, door paper, wall flowers, ceiling flowers, lamps and so on. During festivals or wedding celebrations, people put beautiful and brightly colored paper cuttings on windows, walls, doors and lanterns at home, and the atmosphere of festivals is thus made more enthusiastic. In the countryside, paper-cutting is usually done by women and girls. In the past, paper-cutting was an art of craftsmanship that almost every girl had to master, and it was also used as a criterion for judging brides.

Technically, paper-cutting is actually the process of hollowing out and cutting into the paper to create the image that is to be represented. The working masses with their own ingenuity, in the long-term practice of art and practice of life, this art form will be refined day by day perfect. A variety of techniques mainly based on cutting and carving and hollowing have been formed, such as tearing paper, burning, color-piecing, color-lining, dyeing, outlining, etc., so that the expressive power of paper-cutting has an infinite depth and breadth. It can be as fine as a silk worm spitting out silk, and as thick as a large brush waving and wiping. Its different forms can be pasted on the pendulum lining, can also be suspended hanging. Because the tools and materials of paper-cutting is simple and popular, easy to master the technique, with other irreplaceable characteristics of the art, therefore, this art form from ancient times to the present, almost all over the towns and villages in our country, y loved by the people.

In the childhood of mankind, there is no "folk" and "non-folk" art. With the continuous development of civilization, social hierarchy, the emergence of functional division of labor, the formation of "folk art" relative to the "court art" and "literati art" in terms of the concept of history. The concept of "folk art" in relation to "court art" and "literati art" was formed. Different types of works reflect the aesthetic standards of different classes, which should be the fundamental demarcation between each other. In terms of paper-cutting, not all works cut with paper can be called "folk paper-cutting". Historically, there is no shortage of aristocratic citizens should be the demand for holiday customs and franchise paper-cutting artists, there is no shortage of literati painters for artists to draw, or professional artists to use paper-cutting techniques to create examples. These works are qualitatively different from the works created by the laboring masses for themselves, and are mostly detached from the aesthetic nature of the laborers, and are unlikely to be generally accepted by the general public. Although some of these works have been circulated in certain regions, they will eventually change and become unrecognizable because they are not the creations of the people themselves. Even today, the paper-cutting works that appear in mass art creation activities in many regions should not be confused with folk paper-cutting. Mass creative activities can also adopt the form of folk paper-cutting to create good works that are pleasing to the masses and then circulated in the folklore, but the purpose of their creation has often been detached from the needs of their own lives, or even to express the intentions of the tutor. Although there is a close contact between the two, but not a concept.

Therefore, when studying the scope of folk paper cutting, it is important not to look at it only from the surface form, believing that whatever is cut out of paper is folk paper cutting, and ignoring whether it is necessary for the people's own spiritual life, whether it is universally understood and accepted by the masses, and whether it is widely circulated in the folk of the basic conditions of these folk arts. The weakness of the current basic theory of folk culture has caused confusion in the understanding, making many people believe that anything made by artists or craftsmen living in the folklore, such as ivory carvings, snuff bottles and the like, can be categorized as folk art, which is something that should be corrected. Folk art, including folk paper-cutting, its creation, aesthetics, application and laborers can not be separated from the soil of life, so that it and its coexistence of other art categories clearly distinguishable.

The works of folk paper-cutting that can best reflect the spirit of their own nature are mostly kept in remote mountainous villages, where rural women are the basic team.1. The unity of dependence and independence

Folk paper-cutting is an indispensable artistic activity that is attached to folk customs. Its existence must be dependent on the specific cultural background and living environment of the folk. There are white things at home, the windows can not be posted on the red hot; dolls do not get sick, grandmothers also refused to cut a string of hanging souls of the villain; used to set out the gifts, depending on whether it is a wedding, funeral or life; an old couple's house if a pair of old married couples posted on a pair of sitting account of the happy flowers, it is certainly a young man's play; a long drought, if the cuts are not the rain of the "one woman pounding mallet ", but to seek clear "sweep the sky woman", that I do not know how many people to be cursed. This kind of existence by the purpose of the role of the constraints of the dependent characteristics, expressed in the composition of specific works on the treatment, that is, the decorative characteristics of the work. Such as hanging door paper, bowl shelf cloud and so on, must be connected to the line; pasted on the window is required to fit with the windowpane, and more hollow, otherwise the light is just a large piece of paper; pasted as a bed around the, it is best to cut fewer fragmentary pattern, otherwise it is very easy to damage over time.

Many limitations, but also formed a unique language of art. Folk paper cutting in the fulfillment of a certain role in folklore, but also to show their own existence in the process of independence ---- that is, the characteristics of the United States. A paper cutting, no matter what occasion it is used for, the author in the process of creation must be injected with their own aesthetic feelings. As long as people affirm it with the standard of beauty, it also has the existence of the aesthetic value. Of course, the independence of folk paper-cutting as an art form, the qualification of folklore is not to leave, but to fully harness the folk form of arbitrary. Thus. The value of its existence beyond the behavioral purpose of accompanying folklore.

This artistic independence, with social change and the gradual disappearance of the old folklore is becoming more and more obvious.

2. The unity of collectivity and individuality

In an absolute sense, no artistic creation can simply be regarded as a purely personal product. The social attributes of human beings make it inevitable to reflect the artistic interests of a certain class. Individuality, on the other hand, is simply a play on the collective, or traditional, basis.

The collective character of folk paper-cutting is evident in the final attribution of its works. The work is no longer the private property of the individual author, but belongs to the whole society and the collective. Therefore, its final appearance, must be a direct concentration of the wisdom of the masses, the integration of hundreds of people's artistic talent and aesthetic preferences of the product. In particular, some of the works that have been passed down through the ages and solidified in a state of solidification, is after many generations of repeated carving and modification of the basic stereotypes, and is universally recognized, circulated and stored. For example, the prototypes of "Cart and Horse Picture" and "Weaving Picture" can no longer be investigated in detail. Similar works have been circulated in various places, and their appearance is so different that it is difficult to say which work is entirely the creation of a particular author. An important reason for the formation of collectivity, then, should be the anonymous phenomenon of folk paper-cutting. Folk art is different from the creations of professional artists in that the works are neither labeled with the author's name nor with individual copyrights. Good works of art are circulated around the world, and once they are disseminated, they become the source of a large number of copies and variations, and the authors are integrated into the concept of "laborers" as a group.

It is true that this kind of laborer's art without personal gain is indeed based on the solid collective consciousness of folk culture, but this is not enough to negate the artistic individuality of folk paper-cutting artists. Just as professional artists strive for artistic self-expression, but will not lose their place in society and history, folk paper-cutting in the expression of the collective psychological consciousness of the nation at the same time, of course, will not be without art in the self. If the embodiment of the personality of the literati artists is "ego deliberately seeking" big I "position, then, the embodiment of the personality of the folk paper-cutting artists, is in the" big I "in ego The natural flow of the "big I". Not to mention the East and West, North and South of the region's artistic style and characteristics, even if the same area of different authors of the works, but also clearly has its own obvious personality. If you walk around with a disdainful mentality, it is difficult to see through.

To the north of Shaanxi's skillful Zhang Linzhao and Wang Lanshide, for example, the two are only a hundred miles away from each other, close to the same age, customs and habits are basically the same. Zhang Linzhao childhood home affluent, like to watch the theater and listen to books, trained by the feudal middle class etiquette. But a life of trials and tribulations, three times lost husband, four times married, had 13 children all died. As a result, her external character was melancholic, withdrawn, not good at talking, and she had a materialistic view of life. She created her works so that she could "forget the messy things" and was seldom disturbed by others. This shows the contradiction between his inner anxiety and bitterness and his implicit and unveiled character. In the process of creation, she is eager to achieve psychological balance through the release of emotions. Wang Lanshian, she feels that "people should be busy and active in order to be alive." She does not have high expectations of life and the world, but emphasizes her contribution to society, and belongs to the category of "those who are contented are always happy". Her partner, Li Xin'an, was instrumental in introducing apples to the plateau of northern Shaanxi, but she never thought she should be rewarded. Because of this, her character is cheerful and lively, straightforward and open-minded, self-confident and strong, capricious and active, and often not small-minded, throwing three and four. She cut flowers because "people let me cut, that is, I cut well, is to raise me. I'm not very good at anything else, but I can cut flowers, and I feel good when I do it." It can be seen that their inner world has a tendency to emphasize self-worth. In their works, there are clear shadows of their personal images and hearts, which can be called "paintings are like their own people". The existence of this personality, not only in line with the collective characteristics of the region's cultural traditions, but also does not hide the author's spiritual world, and the literati art, court art personality expression of stammering, no disease *** formed a sharp contrast.

For a long time, folk paper-cutting has been regarded as repetitive labor or a copy of traditional patterns, ignoring the individuality of the laborer-artist creativity, which is an historical injustice. The laborers of Wu should be inherited or created by folk customs and personal aesthetic preferences. This is what this article focuses on.

What is the method of paper cutting

One, folding

Folding the paper to produce a repeated pattern is the most basic of the paper-cutting technique, but also a monochrome paper-cutting method of expression. It produces different effects depending on the number and angle of folding. When using this process to cut flowers, the paper can be folded twice or three times after the start of the cut, the resulting pattern for four or six sides of the shape of the flush. If you cut animals or people, the shape after folding once is symmetrical. Folded paper cutting is symmetrical patterns, so the resulting graphics have a more rhythmic sense. This technique is mostly used to cut flowers and ceiling flowers and other happy characters.

II. Yin and Yang Carving

The basic effect of paper cutting is obtained by using yin and yang lines alone or mixed.

Yin carving, also known as engraving, is to carve away the contour lines that represent the structure of the object, the method of expressing lines in a large block, this effect is thick, strong, strong sense of weight, there is a strong sense of contrast between black and white, the blanks that are carved away from the composition of the pattern, the line and the line is not connected to the line.

Yang carving, also known as skeletonization, is just the opposite of yin carving, is carved away from the blank part, retaining the contour line. The lines of the pattern are solid, and the lines are connected. This method is smooth, clear, and lusciously detailed.

The combination of yin and yang is the best expression of paper cutting. The appearance of two methods of yin and yang carving in the same piece of work makes the composition varied and the contrast between black, white and gray in the picture is a very expressive paper-cutting technique.

Three, pierce

With a knife or scissors in the paper cut out the basic outline, and then use a needle to pierce holes in the pattern, mainly to make the multi-layer paper line, at the same time in the roughness of the meticulous. This technique is often used in embroidery patterns, sometimes the pattern is symmetrical, such as pillow flowers, shoe flowers, sleeve flowers. Need 2 to 4 of the same paper samples, then more rice paper cutting, piercing, after the completion of the ungluing, there are many of the same paper samples at the same time. The use of rice paper is because it is easy to stick and thin, pads underneath the embroidery will not affect the beauty. With a fast and easy stapler, staples instead of, and also play the same effect of multi-layer paper line