Mianzhu Woodblock New Year Prints

Author: Wei Deshou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Mianzhu New Year prints are folk woodblock prints from southwestern China, named after Mianzhu City, Sichuan Province. Mianzhu is one of the main production areas for New Year prints in China and was named a "Hometown of Chinese Folk Art" (folk woodblock prints) by the Ministry of Culture in 1993. Mianzhu New Year prints originated in the late Ming Dynasty and reached their peak during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns of the Qing Dynasty. According to the Mianzhu County Annals of the 29th year of the Daoguang reign (1849), it was recorded: "The forests and mountains in the northwest of Mianzhu produce mostly bamboo and wood, and the profit from bamboo paper benefits tens of thousands of families, yet it is still insufficient to print books, make peach symbols, or paint colorful scenes with Shen Shu and Yu Lü to adorn the New Year." Mianzhu New Year prints not only have a deep grassroots foundation in southwestern and northwestern China but are also highly favored by India, Myanmar, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries. The composition of Mianzhu New Year prints is easy to understand and lively, with a rough, bold, and simple style. They come in diverse forms, are richly decorated, and have a strong sense of life and unique local characteristics. Mianzhu New Year prints are generally divided into two categories: red goods (such as door gods, square prints, and central hall prints) and black goods (such as woodblock prints). The themes mostly revolve around welcoming good fortune, praying for blessings, and joyful celebrations. Mianzhu New Year prints are often praised as "filling in the gaps." At the end of the year, after the painters finish their work for their employers, they use leftover scraps of paper and dye residue to add color hastily, creating works with the momentum of "brush strokes sweeping like wind." These paintings are grand in scale, vigorous in brushwork, and even more rugged and spirited, making them treasures among Mianzhu New Year prints. Mianzhu New Year prints use locally produced special "powdered paper" and mineral pigments, primarily in red, yellow, lake blue, and green, to showcase their distinctive charm as Chinese folk art. Since the 1980s, Mianzhu New Year prints have been exhibited multiple times in Germany, Japan, the United States, France, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, and have been collected by many foreign museums, art galleries, cultural centers, and universities.