Where is the most famous woodcarving art in China?

First, introduce the types of woodcarving. There are many kinds of wood carvings in China, which are spread all over the country. The most famous woodcarvings are: Zhejiang Dongyang woodcarving, Guangdong Golden Lacquer woodcarving, Wenzhou boxwood carving woodcarving and Fujian Longan woodcarving, which are also called "Four Famous Carvings". Other kinds, such as Qufukai woodcarving, Nanjing antique woodcarving, Suzhou red woodcarving, Jianchuan cloud woodcarving, Shanghai white woodcarving, Yongling birch woodcarving, Quanzhou colored plastic woodcarving, etc ... These woodcarving are all named after the origin, material selection or technological characteristics, and some of them have a long history, high technological level, traditional characteristics, and are skillful craftsmen, which stand out everywhere. Although some of them are rising stars, their wood carving skills are becoming more and more exquisite, their shapes are becoming more and more perfect, and they have distinctive local characteristics.

There are two kinds of wood carving: craft wood carving and artistic wood carving. Craft woodcarving usually refers to the woodcarving handicraft that has a long history, strong national traditional color, exquisite carving and exquisite craftsmanship. Craft woodcarving can be divided into two categories: purely ornamental and practical. Decorative woodcarving is a small and independent work of art, which is displayed and placed on cabinets, windows, tables, tables, boxes and shelves for people to enjoy. Carved with three-dimensional round carving or semi-round carving technology, the theme and content are wide, including flowers and birds, animals, ladies, historical figures and so on. And some works that reflect real life and have ideological significance. For example, in boxwood carving, Wenzhou, the products are influenced by the modeling style and lines of literati paintings in the late Qing Dynasty, with simple and round cutting techniques, realistic structure and poetic flavor. Practical woodcarving refers to artworks decorated with woodcarving techniques that combine practicality and artistry, such as palace lanterns, floor lamps, screens, picture frames, pen holders, picture frames, clock stands, jewelry boxes, shrines, building components, furniture carvings, etc. There are also several cases, boxes, seats and shelves specially designed for other handicrafts, such as jade, tooth carving, vases, jewels and porcelain. These artworks are decorated with wood carvings, which set off the main body, enrich the whole and increase the artistic appreciation value.

In the art of wood carving, although craft wood carving is based on some decorative needs (they range from traditional buildings, classical furniture, temples and shrines; Small to daily necessities, desk furnishings), but it is the essence of carving art. Because of its large demand and wide application, this kind of wood carving is usually designed and carved by experienced and skilled old artists or arts and crafts artists, and then carved and copied by skilled workers in large quantities. Therefore, there are certain norms and processes in the form of theme expression, and the production process is also very clear, such as cutting blanks, trimming, polishing, configuration, bottoming and other flow operations. Artistic woodcarving usually refers to works with exquisite conception, profound connotation and originality, which can reflect the author's aesthetic views, artistic methods and artistic skills. Artistic woodcarving is generally designed and produced by the author himself, so it can always run through and grasp the creative ideas and pursuits. The creative method of artistic woodcarving, like other sculpture materials, is to express people and things in the objective world by modeling, or to be realistic, or exaggerated, or to extract images. It is also necessary to combine the characteristics of wood, excavate the elements of beauty from the morphological attributes of original materials, and fully reflect the interest and material beauty of woodcarving art. The theme content and expression form of artistic woodcarving depend on the artistic accomplishment and hobbies of the author on the one hand, and on the natural shape and texture of wood on the other, that is, "acting on materials". Artistic woodcarving is rich and eclectic, bold, rough and powerful; There are exquisite carvings and smooth lines; Have a concise summary and skillfully use natural beauty. Good artistic woodcarving is not only the product of the sculptor's ingenuity, but also a work of art that decorates, beautifies the environment, cultivates temperament and is pleasing to the eye, so it has high collection value. Woodcarving, like all carvings, can be roughly divided into two forms, one is "independent" and the other is "attached". The former refers to the so-called three-dimensional space sculpture that can be freely placed and seen from any direction and angle, and is usually used as an indoor display or desk decoration. The latter refers to the relief used to decorate the indoor walls of buildings or fixed spaces such as doors and windows. This kind of relief is usually expressed by high, low, engraved, transparent and smooth. A slightly protruding statue is called a low relief; The statue is very prominent on the bottom, which is called high relief; The periphery of the relief is hollowed out, which makes the statue show a clear image effect similar to paper-cutting, which is called hollowed-out carving; The composition of the statue is multi-layered, carved layer by layer. In addition to the final background, the front part has nothing to do with the bottom surface, which is also called transparent carving. Toutong carving is characterized by combining various carving methods on one screen, which is a multi-level and all-round hollow carving with a slight deviation and three-dimensional shape. His works have exquisite artistic effects and are mainly used for traditional wood carving decoration of ancient buildings. For example, the golden lacquer wood carving in Guangdong is to concentrate landscapes, feathers, animals, insects and fish and various patterns on one screen, and distinguish different plots and scenes with zigzag and S-shaped paths. There are also some reliefs that are independent works of art and can be freely configured according to the needs of the environment. They are also decorative wall hangings or screens.

There are three ways to create wood carvings: one is when facing a relatively ordinary log, square wood or standard board without special shape (that is, wood is processed into regular material shapes, such as square, rectangle, circle, etc. ), we can freely choose the content and theme of carving, and then use a lot of carving to achieve the final artistic effect. This method seems simple, but it is also subject to certain constraints. Because the structure of wood is composed of fibers, its fragility requires us to emphasize integrity and firmness in composition creation. Generally speaking, artistic woodcarving does not pay attention to splicing, otherwise it will lose its characteristics. If you want to make a fuss about a piece of wood, you have to avoid running around and discard the fragmented details. In order to highlight the texture of wood and express beautiful wood grain, the modeling volume should not be too small or too much, and it should be large and pursue an integrated effect (Figure 1).

The second method is to follow the shape, that is, according to the unique natural shape or texture direction of the material itself, give this material a specific image through feeling and imagination, and release its image through clever carving. The so-called seven points are natural and three points are carved. This method is also called "clever carving", and its conception process takes more time than the actual carving, which is endless fun. "Clever carving" is a kind of conformal modeling, that is, to adapt to certain conditions, which is a kind of restriction or constraint, and seems to have caused trouble to the author. What is often limited will become the decisive factor to form its artistic characteristics, which can make rotten wood magical. Some jade carvings are precious, which is reflected in the author's method of drawing materials according to quantity and shape, and making fine products according to materials (Figure 2).

Nature gives us a lot of inspiration, and some materials have unusual and obvious shapes, which directly stimulate your imagination or inspiration; Others are not obvious and need careful consideration and meditation; The changeable wood grain is often the factor that affects the artistic effect of the work; The irregular shape of some wood blocks can also remind us of the existence of an image. Therefore, many sculptors often collect some "grotesque" wood and keep it around for a long time. They often think about and examine it. Once they are mature, they can't stop picking up the meat cleaver. Of course, the success of a work often depends on the difference between ideas. "As the saying goes, everything goes wrong." This is closely related to the artistic accomplishment and skills of composition.

The third method of woodcarving creation is to completely get rid of the morphological attributes of the original materials, and make the large and small wood chips into approximate shapes and thicknesses according to the design intent by manual or mechanical stacking and bonding, and then carve them (Figure 3). The advantage of this method is that it can increase the volume of wood at will, greatly reduce the effort of cutting wood and save large logs. If it is a "sandwich" made of different colors of wood stacked and bonded, its wood appearance will show a clear and beautiful decorative wood grain after carving, which will make the work have a unique artistic effect. Some sculptors often add the wood they want to add to any part of the sculpture. In order to expand the proportion and shape of woodcarving, they use the method of combination bonding. There are also some sculptors who are more original and unique when using wood to create works. They carved the trees planted in the garden into works, and some of them added branches and leaves, thus creating wood carvings that coexist with nature.

Wood is a living object, which has brought countless benefits to mankind. What human beings can give in return should be to keep their unique tenderness and beauty as much as possible, to keep their simple qualities as much as possible, and to give themselves new life.