What kind of art form is paper cutting?

Paper-cutting has a broad mass base and has been integrated into the social life of people of all ethnic groups. It is an important part of various folk activities.

Its continuous visual image and modeling format contain rich cultural and historical information, expressing the social identity, moral concept, practical experience, life ideal and aesthetic taste of the general public, and has multiple social values such as cognition, education, expression, lyricism, entertainment and communication? .

Folk paper-cutting is good at combining all kinds of objects and images to produce ideal and beautiful effects.

The geographical closure and cultural limitations, as well as the intrusion of adversity such as natural disasters, aroused people's desire for a happy life. People pray for ample food and clothing, prosperity, health and longevity, and all the best, and this simple desire is conveyed through paper cutting? .

Expand the cultural heritage materials of paper-cutting art

Paper-cut art, as a unique folk art form in China, is a kind of exquisite hollowing-out technique with fine production technology and vivid artistic modeling.

As early as last century, "China School" represented by Wan Brothers created a series of excellent paper-cut animations. From then on, China paper-cut animation with traditional national characteristics was born. It can be said that the success of China animation in the early stage of development is inseparable from traditional art.

In the information age, people are often eager for new things, so the emphasis on traditional art is gradually decreasing. Most young people think that traditional art is boring and synonymous with old-fashioned and outdated. As an important part of new media, animation is a popular form of communication at present, which has strong educational significance because of its popularity among children.

Paper-cutting is a folk art, which comes from life, so every region has its own unique style. Shaanxi paper-cut is simple and bold, Shanxi paper-cut is fine and beautiful, Yixing paper-cut is complicated and neat. Paper-cutting is a hollow art, which is made of paper, metal foil, bark, leather and other materials through carving, engraving, picking and cutting.

Because most paper-cuts come from folk, the materials are mostly paper, which is difficult to preserve. The exact time of paper-cutting can only be inferred from the records of materials, tools and historical materials used in paper-cutting. In Historical Records, "Cutting Tung to Seal Brother" said that in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, a plane leaf was cut into the shape of a jade doll and given to his younger brother, whose name was Hou in the Tang Dynasty.

There is also a poem "painting yellow on the mirror" in Mulan Ci in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, paper-cutting technology reached its peak, and everyone's life was inseparable from paper-cutting, whether it was the royal family or the common people. From the patterns on lanterns in folk festivals, the window grilles on windows, to the words used by the emperor when he got married, they are all paper-cuts.

Paper-cut content is mainly agricultural life, so there are many kinds, mostly used for decoration and celebration, so the style is auspicious. Folk paper-cutting pays attention to "the picture must be intentional and the meaning must be auspicious", so many patterns such as gourd and lotus are used to represent auspiciousness.

Melons and livestock closely related to agricultural life are also the main contents of paper-cutting. In rural areas of China, it is considered that many children are more blessed, so dolls are also multi-purpose patterns for paper-cutting. Until today, during the Chinese New Year, every household has the custom of hanging lanterns on window grilles.

Paper-cut animation originated in China, and China's traditional art provided a creative source for paper-cut animation. Paper-cut animation absorbs the modeling elements of paper-cut art, the performance elements of shadow play and the sound elements of traditional opera.

In the era of material shortage and war, paper-cut animation can be said to be the product of "poverty". The war caused investors to withdraw and destroyed the "big sky" that Wan Brothers had been preparing for a long time. The extreme shortage of funds forces the older generation of animators to seek more economical production forms.

Paper-cut animation combines the modeling method of paper-cut with the performance method of shadow play, installs joints for animated characters, and then presents the movements of the characters by shooting frame by frame. This method not only saves time and money, but also improves the expressive ability of animation.

Wan Guchan began to study paper-cut cartoons on 1956, and 1958 personally directed the first paper-cut cartoon "Pigs Eat Watermelon".

The appearance of paper-cut animation opened up a brand-new road for Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and then Shanghai Animation Film Studio successively launched a series of classic paper-cut works such as Fisherman, Golden Shell and Hulu Brothers, which added a lot of color to history of animation, China.

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