指尖上的坚守

指尖上的坚守

Hanging-on by the Fingertips

Text by Madeline & Zhang Meng Photos by Zeng Jian & Wang Yuanchang Translation by Sonia

Changes in the social ecology have gradually eliminated the room of survival for traditional New Year picture art, and this thousand year old traditional artwork has slowly faded out of existence. Despite so, a number of persistent craftsmen have continued to follow their

hearts to retain or add innovation to this art with their brush pens

and chisel knives so the New Year picture art may be passed down to future generations.

社会生态的改变使传统木版年画逐渐失去了生存的土壤，流传了千百年的传统艺术日渐淡出江湖。尽管如此，仍有一批执着的匠人，用画笔和刻刀坚守着一份初心，或留存，或创新，让年画能够传承下去。

The Secret Formula of Eternal Red

Feng Bingtang, the national-level inheritor of Foshan woodblock New Year pictures, is 80 years of age. The painting worktable that has been there all his life is even older than he is – this proudly dented wood table has not been moved for over a century.

“The painting worktable cannot be moved. Once moved, it will be diffi cult to realign the printing plate properly” Feng explained.

“Printing plate” is the second process following“engraving plate.” Feng Bingtang, who grew up in “Woodblock Painting Street” located in Foshan, Guangdong, learned from his father the secret of precise process printing. The paintings take layers of printing in four colours – black, red, green, and yellow. Any errors here will lead to off-registration. Thus, as easy as this step may seem, it is a huge challenge to the craftsmen's skill.

Unlike the northern woodblock New Year pictures, the white space on Foshan woodblock New Year pictures, especially door gods pictures, are usually painted red to match the lunar new year's joyous atmosphere. To prevent the paintings from fading

easily and improve durability, Foshan painters adopted vermillion, a local ingredient, to create the rust-proof and acid-proof dye “Eternal Red”, and Feng is the only person alive who knows the secret recipe.

After the Cultural Revolution, the New Year pictures declined. There were as many as two hundred New Year picture shops at the time from late Ming dynasty to early Qing dynasty; all of them went out of business. The Feng family is the only one that resumed business. As the mechanism of multi-shop collaboration is no longer in place, Feng Bingtang had to learn the whole manufacturing process from tracing the lines, engraving the plate, colouring the face, fi lling in the red, to painting in gold – all has to be done at his own shop.

Although the prospects for Foshan woodblock New Year pictures may not seem bright, Mr. Feng is still optimistic, “Will the art of Foshan woodblock New Year pictures be lost? Not in my hands!”

Feng may once again fi nd the way to preserve this valuable, intangible cultural heritage of the Lingnan area, like he preserved the formula of “Eternal Red.”

Feng Bingtang Representative Inheritor for National Intangible Cultural Heritage Project of Foshan Nianhua

冯炳棠

佛山木版年画国家级非物质文化遗产项目代表性传承人。

万年红的秘方

佛山木版年画的国家级传承人冯炳棠今年80岁高寿。而与他一辈子作伴的印画台，甚至比他更老——这张骄傲地留有深浅刻痕的木桌，逾百年来几乎未曾移动过。

“印画台不能动。因为移动了印版就很难对准。”冯炳棠解释道。

所谓“印版”，指的是继“雕版”之后的第二道工序。在广东佛山细巷“木版年画一条街”长大的冯炳棠，在父亲的手把手传授下学会了精准套印的秘诀。由于要分黑、红、绿、黄四种颜色分次套印，失之毫厘就会错位。因此，这道步骤虽然看似简单，实际上非常考验师傅的功底。

与北方木版年画不同的是，佛山木版年画中的门神，纸张上的空白处通常都会被染红，以配合过年喜庆的氛围。为了避免褪色，使年画更好地对付日晒雨淋，佛山版画会使用一种由当地特产硍硃调配出的防锈防酸的染料——“万年红”，冯炳棠成为这一填丹秘笈的独家传承人。

“文革”后，年画式微，原先在明末清初时多达 200 家的年画店坊纷纷倒闭，得以复业的仅剩冯氏一家。多家作坊分工合作的机制不再，冯炳棠不得不学会全套制作工序，从绘制线描稿、雕版、开相，到填丹、描金，全部都得自家完成。

尽管佛山木版年画的未来堪忧，冯老却仍然抱有信心 ：“佛山木版年画会不会失传？——至少在我这里不会！”

或许，冯氏能够再一次像保存“万年红”秘方那样，为这项宝贵的岭南非物质文化遗产找到它的独家长存之道。

Rebirth of “Zhang's New Year picture”

Yangliuqing Town of Tianjing City is located at the main traffi c junction between the north and the south, where the art of New Year picture is also infl uenced by the diverse cultures of the north and the south. The “Zhang's New Year picture”founded by Mr. Zhang Keqiang is renowned in the New Year picture fi eld because he has dared to add innovation to the inherited art tradition. Zhang stated, “I feel that as people's artistic pursuits and aesthetic requirements evolve, New Year pictures must also innovate with the times. Of course we must not digress from the origin and lose the charm of the painting.” In addition to the traditional wood engraving and printing, “Zhang's New Year picture” has also adopted the modern“silk screening” method to draft the ink patterns for New Year pictures. The result is precise lines that can meet the painting enjoyment demands of modern people.

Although people have different views over the improved New Year picture method, Zhang believes that, “The Yangliuqing woodblock New Year pictures represent a certain period of history and have their own artistic charms, but they also have inadequacies such as the wooden panels are not suited for long-term preservation.”

Traditional art must also absorb new innovations in order to develop further. The greatest advantages of the improved New Year picture craftsmanship are the ability to create intricate lines, illustrate delicate emotions, showcase harmonious screen colours, and achieve high-volume batch printing for the New Year pictures.

As the artistic path forges ahead, Mr. Zhang's New Year picture craftsmanship has formed a distinctive style and gained acceptance by more people. Today, he engages in this novel art creation method with passion and hopes to add more splendour to this art. “The Yangliuqing New Year pictures are a rich artistic treasure composed of thousands of varieties and tens of generations of hard work from ancestors who have selfl essly passed on the craftsmanship process to the new generation. Increasingly more people are learning this craft, especially the young people who can pick up the art of painting rather quickly. I believe its future development trend should be the exquisite pieces of art that can meet the painting enjoyment demands of the modern people. This is what gives life to the art.”

“年画张” 的重生

天津杨柳青地处南北交通要道，年画艺术也受到南北多元文化的影响。张克强始创的“年画张”，就以其继承传统且敢于创新而闻名年画界。“我觉得，随着人们的艺术追求和审美要求的不同，年画创作也要适时创新，当然万变不离其宗，整个绘画的韵味不能丢。”张克强说。现在，除了传统的木版印刷方式外，“年画张”还运用一种叫“丝漏”的现代丝版印刷的技术做年画的墨稿，线条精确，符合现代人的观赏趣味。

对于改良的年画，尽管别人有不同看法，但是张克强认为，“杨柳青木版年画，我认为它代表了一段历史，有它自身的艺术魅力，但也有不足，比如，木版不适于保存。”

传统艺术也要吸收新的东西才能发展。他们改进的年画制作工艺最大的好处就是能使年画的线条格外精致，情感细腻，画面色调和谐，并且可以实现大批量印刷。

随着在艺术道路上的不断求索前进，张克强的年画艺术已经形成了鲜明的个人风格，并被更多的人们接受。今天，他正以饱满的热情进行着新的艺术创作，希望古老的杨柳青年画更加绚丽多彩。“杨柳青年画是一个丰富的艺术宝库，上千个品种，有几十代人的不懈的努力，有很完善的一套绘制过程，都是先辈毫无保留地流传至今。现在学画的人越来越多了，特别是年轻人学画学起来就更得心应手。它将来的发展趋势，我认为应该说是那种适合于现代人审美要求的精美的艺术作品，这样它才是有生命力的。”

Zhang Keqiang, Inheritor of the craftsmanship of Yangliuqing New Year Picture.

杨柳青年画技艺传承人张克强。