What is Liaocheng folk art?

Liaocheng folk art includes woodcut New Year pictures, gourd carvings, porcelain carvings, wheat straw paintings, Lu brocade, paper-cutting, embroidery, cloth art, wood carving, dough sculpture, clay sculpture and palm painting.

Woodblock New Year pictures

Woodblock New Year pictures are a traditional folk art form with a long history in China, with a history of 1000 years. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, folk New Year pictures reached their peak.

In China, New Year pictures are symbols of the New Year. If you don't put up New Year pictures, it's not the New Year. New Year pictures are not only decorations for festivals, but also have cultural and artistic values. They are an encyclopedia reflecting the life of China's civil society.

Woodblock New Year pictures developed to the middle and late Qing Dynasty, and dozens of producing areas appeared, including: Liangping in Chongqing, Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Wuqiang in Hebei, Weifang in Shandong, Taohuawu in Suzhou, Zhuxian Town in Henan, Mianzhu in Sichuan and Pingyang in Shanxi. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, except Tibet, New Year pictures were used all over the country, including Taiwan Province Province.

Hulu sculpture

Gourd carving (Dongchang Gourd Carving) is a traditional art in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, and it is one of the national intangible cultural heritages.

Dongchang gourd carving skills spread in Liaocheng, Shandong Province, with Tangyi Town in Dongchangfu District as the center, covering Liangshui Town, Yansi Office and Xinji Town in guanxian today. Dongchang gourd carving has exquisite materials, exquisite carving skills, smooth lines, rich patterns and excellent production, showing distinctive regional characteristics. Dongchang gourd carving combines elegant modeling skills with realistic techniques to form a complete artistic system.

Chiping paper-cut

Chiping paper-cut has the characteristics of rough lines, simple form and strong local flavor. All kinds of flowers and birds are lifelike, lifelike. Folk artists cut paper into colorful pictures with their simple techniques, and their skills have been passed down from generation to generation. There are many themes reflecting happiness, auspiciousness, wishful thinking, loyalty and filial piety.

As far as artistic style is concerned, there are similarities and differences between eastern and western paper-cutting in Chiping County. In the eastern region, pay attention to the external contour of the object and cut it into shape without making a draft; Western regions pay attention to the necessary decorative patterns on simple images to make the works look beautiful and generous. Cut more "white lotus red fish" on holidays, symbolizing the bumper harvest of grain, which is more than enough every year; When getting married, use "Yuanyang playing in the water" to wish the husband and wife respect each other and grow old together.

Chiping paper-cut is collected by China Art Museum and Provincial Art Museum, and many other works are collected by foreign collectors.