Research on the Woodcut of Zheng Shuang

梁永浩

Born in Changchun City， Jilin Province in 1936， Zheng Shuang has three siblings， a younger sister， an older sister and also a little brother. Her father Zheng Guangyuan is the grandchild of Zheng Xiaoxu， prime minister of the “State of Manchuria”. With U.K. study background， Zheng Guangyuan himself is an architecture engineer serving in the Cultural and Historical Records Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference after 1949.While her mother Yunhe belongs to the Aisin Gioro clan and is the second younger sister of Puyi， who is the last emperor of Qing Dynasty. She changed her name as Jin Xinru after the foundation of the P.R. China and worked as a kindergarten principal.Zheng Shuangs parents were paired by Puyi， and her family lived in the city“Hsinking”（Changchun City in the State of Manchuria period ）before 1945 when the Soviet Union declared a war against Japan. After three years drifting life dodging the infliction of war， they finally settled down in 1948 and returned Beijing. “I didnt receive formal education in those years of turbulence， so I could only turn to my aunt for extra tutoring and come back to primary school at the fifth grade.I never had a systemic elementary education.” Zhengs attachment with art can be traced back to her young age. Most of her maternal relatives knew oil painting or watercolor more or less even though they didnt specifically learn drawings. Some of her aunts even graduated from the renowned Fine Art Department of Fu Jen Catholic University， and none of them find painting anything difficult. In addition， since both of her parents have oversea study experiences， and her father， as an engineer needs to sketch designing papers， various kinds of foreign art magazines or journals can be found back at her home in Changchun when she was just a kid. The western aesthetic taste from Zhengs parents subtly impacted her as well， endowing Zheng Shuang with much broader vision than did her peers. Growing up in such an atmosphere， Zheng would spontaneously draw something just like the daily routine of eating or sleeping， and it is because of that Zheng indeed never deem painting as a life-long aspiration to pursue.

Zheng Shuang scored the first place in a citywide middle school art contest held in Beijing in 1953 and made her work published on the newspaper “Beijing Daily”. In May of the same year， Beijing Education Bureau claimed to select outstanding students of extraordinary art talents for the Attached Middle School of Central Academy of Fine Arts （CAFA）. Zheng was admitted by the school upon her graduation and ever since then began her comprehensive art training. She spent all her academic life in CAFA from 1957 on when finishing her courses in the attached middle school to 1963 after getting her bachelor degree and continued one-year-long master study. During her learning as an undergraduate student in CAFA， Li Hua was the director of the Print Department and had led students including Zheng to countryside for sketching. “The technique class was taught by Mr. Li Hua， generally focusing on black-and –white woodcut；Mr. Gu Yuan was for creation class and watercolor woodcut；Mr.Huang Yongyu mastered a very unique technique， making carvings especially delicate.” “I was mostly influenced by Mr. Gu， while Li Huas paintings show a sense of rationality and Mr. Huang is super brilliant and creates a volume of intriguing works， I personally have a more similar art interest with Gu， so I incline more to him. He has simplified， plain， emotional drawings close to life.”Sketch skills were instructed by Mr. Jin Shangyi and coloring was taught by Mr. Pang Tao.Both Hou Yimin and Gu Yuan exerted great influence on Zheng Shuang. Mr. Hou always encouraged Zheng Shuang to follow her own passion， be herself and live up to her personal interest， and Mr. Gu imparted his understandings of art to he.All of these impacts can find their expressions in the later works of Zheng Shuang.

Materials speaking， Zhengs woodcut prints can be divided into two categories， the oil-based woodcut and watercolor prints， and the latter one is more familiar to general public. Most of her works in early stage when she was still a student were oil based. Solid realistic painting techniques can be seen from both the composition and details of her paintings， and polished perspective proportions of light variations as well as spaces were embodied in this period. In the later stage of her study， she began to dabble in water-based woodcut and gradually developed many of her own expressions and anesthetic styles in 1980s. It drove the advancement of the contemporary domestic woodcut print and also propelled other print genres， generating a tremendous sound effect.Her works are mainly octavo size， with bookplate and large scale paintings being created as well. In terms of the contents， four themes can be found in her paintings， namely as sceneries， figures， animals and still objects.The sceneries in her woodcuts range widely from bamboo groves， distant mountains to wells and foreign architectures， and more attention is shifted to trees in the later phase of her career. Figures and animals never fail to find their position in Zhengs works trough all the time from the very beginning of her study to her retirement， whereas still objects are mostly presented in later phase.Her figure woodcut printings are composed of four varieties. The first kind introduces relative small characters to serve as a contrast to grand scenes， for instance her nascent works：“The Kitchen of Our Production Brigade” and “Flax-collecting Season”. The second one focuses on historical dignitaries， displaying a sense of preciseness with little emotion being delivered. Her early painting “Fidel Castro” and the afterwards “King Wu of the South Yue Kingdom” all stand for this variety. The third type represented by “Africa， Learning My Own Words” and “Female Militias Guarding the South China Sea” centers on certain stories in scene depiction， and the last one， also a sort beloved by many female artists， is about feminism. “Fireflies in July”， “An Everlasting Star” and “Apple” all relate to this theme. Another two woodcut forms extensively adored are her acclaimed animal and still object series. Due to the impact of the overall domestic art environment， artists at that time were enthusiastic about portraying workers and farmers life. Excellent works like “Female Militias Guarding the South China Sea” also echoed the major trend， so paintings of animals or still objects only emerged in multitude in Zhengs middle and later art career. Indoor flowers and vases play the leading role in her works while cats are the animal mostly known. After many years attempt and honing of skills， she enabled to present a consistent image of cat through consummate techniques. Zheng developed many distinctive personal expressions after a long term exploration. On the one hand， she shows such uniqueness in understanding and applying of the flatness as well as ornamentation of prints， which are reflected through the treatment of perspectives and also volume and space.On the other hand， she innovates in layout. Zheng excels at placing light color behind the darker ones， engendering unparalleled effect compared to traditional prints.endprint

Zheng Shuang had produced a good deal of superior black and white woodcuts during her undergraduate study already. The works showed an uniformity in both technical expressions and forms. The tendency of realism was another feature of paintings in this period. Extra emphases were put on structure when pitching in the knife and the figure paintings were especially mellow but with depth and evident volume， whereas carvings in relief were utilized in the outer contour. Filleting knives were more favorable in making the image vigorous. The painting “Pincushion” made in 1981 marked the basic style of Zhengs floral woodcuts came into being. Firstly， flowers and vases are embodied from a front horizontal angle while tables and cloth are demonstrated from an overview perspective in the whole picture. Secondly， a large area of black is remained as a semi-tone to harmonize the general color display and thus puts in place a more solid image. The table， leaves of the pincushion and part of textures on the vase in this painting are exactly examples. Thirdly， no any skew line is applied in the picture out of perspective and less attention is paid to the sense of volume. Fourthly， bright hues are overprinted on some darker woods to diversify color effect， for instance the last flower petal is overlapped on the black leave print. This method is like doing subtraction， generally speaking， the color varies from light to dark during making process and the tone as well as shape will be stronger step by step， which resembles an adding， nevertheless， Zheng Shuang employs dark colors firstly and then puts lighter hues， keeping covering the previous scenes， just like minus. Her works at this stage are of immense poetic features， the slight of realism in her early works vanishes as well. “I am emotional even portraying some solemn sets， I just cant change myself， so Ill just let it go， I am who I am and thats it.” After the watercolor print “A Season of Red Leaves” being created in 1990， Zheng Shuang developed steady techniques in painting felines. Similar to her floral paintings in the same phase， another drastic change is the less stress on tiny details in the posture. Cats body get more mellow and full compared with the previous long strip shape and the curves of the profile become less， an abstract arch is used and the face of cat is the single part put the most efforts to. “Backyard” painted in 1999 is a work of special significance. Zheng rarely create something of extreme depth， but a strong perspective deformation is inter-weaved in this painting， and it is barely seen being it in scenery， figure or still object paintings. “Woodcuts like ‘Backyard is rather special. There is a sense of space in the painting， with mellow colors in the far distance and overlaying of tones to the nearby dark color， inventing a moist atmosphere. The colors are printed to the board so it takes me several days to finish a single sheet. Light colors first and then get darker gradually so as to forge the penetration of light. It is not common in my works， and no specific model I was following when depicting it since I have only a balcony in my house with vast of plants， so this is the backyard in my heart.”endprint

Zheng Shuang holds that different artists have different feelings against the same object， so their representation shall never be the same either. She studied in Mr. Gu Yuans studio when she was in college and benefited a lot from Gus attitude and ideas. But even though he influenced Zheng in an indisputable manner， Zheng didnt mirror his teachers drawing style. GU strived to speak out his feelings through his own expressions and so did Zheng Shuang， and it is because of that， some of her works manage to stand out. In her instructions， Zheng also asked her students to break away from the superficial and delved into deeper intention， to find the essence inside and the beauty in nature as well as life through observation， and only in this way could a personal artistic signature be formed. To express explicitly who you are is something remarkably important but also tricky. When teaching in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts， some students said they would copy her works. She replied that this could be a “shortcut”， but creation was not a everyday imitation， and students must reveal their own thoughts rather than simply emulated others style. Zheng paid a special visit to Van Gogh during her trip in Europe in 1996. Van Gogh created more than one piece of sunflower and each had its own modification and pattern， and such exceptional quality stemming from the integration of self-perception and characteristics of a certain object greatly resonated with Zheng Shuang. Van Gogh was not so popular in his days， for he conveyed unconventional ideas and always drew at his own willingness， but such avant-garde behaviors were so distinctive and striking that allowed him an eternal icon defying the ups and downs of artistic history. One of Zheng Shuangs college classmates was great at imitating Gus painting， which could even confused viewers. However， in Zhengs opinion， paintings like this could only be regarded as the second Gu， so simply following the art form is inadvisable；a painter shall never copy exactly the same as his teacher. Given the large number of art schools currently， it is anything but easy task to find an unbeaten track， nevertheless， once the artist captures the way to express his or her personal feelings and signature， he or she can stick out. Zheng cultivated a mass of eminent artists during her teaching in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts over the last 40 years. She didnt break herself away from the teaching career after retirement but constantly imparted knowledge to students through publishing painting album or donating her works. “The idea of donation derived from my teacher Mr. Li Hua and Mr. Gu Yuan. Li gave away all his creations to CAFA and Gus works were collected in Gu Yuan Museum in his hometown. I find it conducive for the preservation and dissemination of art works. I do not want my paintings be out of all the places， considering that my off springs may not engage in fine art anymore， and it is possible for them to sell my works in harsh times.”endprint

The passion towards life can be traced everywhere from Zhengs prints. “I am fond of everything upbeat， warm and nice in my life， and it has something to do with my family atmosphere.” Zheng once came across a stray cat loitering along the street， with so many vehicles passing by， the little cat was prone to be run over， but the kitty didnt try to dodge the fleeting cars at all. Zheng scooped the cat up and it was quite obedient， after body examination， it turned out that there were some problems with one of the cats eyes. Zheng asked around and found it was not a pet of any of the stores nearby， and a staff told her the cat was here only two days ago. Zheng just took the cat to her own house given that no clear diagnose was made form pet clinic. There had been totally seven cats in her dwelling at that time already， despite of those being adopted， others were cubs of the earlier cats. Zheng Shuang infused all these moments of life into her paintings. She believes that to present something you truly cherish， one should firstly keep drawing to the extent of extreme proficiency， and even to be clear about all structures. To take cat as a case， when the cats structure， movement， limb shape， activity range of the tail and head， and also how it looks like when getting angry or playing cute are all in an artists mind， the creation will be spared from confine and the cat will be more like cat naturally. The woodcut “Red Cushion” finished in 1994 depicts a cat lying on a chair. Instead of painting with the reference of the real cat， Zheng Shuang made this work basically out of imagination and memory. In that when facing a live cat， thoughts will be restrained and imagination will be limited. For example， the change of the cats forearm angle will entail reflections on detail processing. Little deformation is made when portraying the cat with only a generalization of its appearance. Based on the previous experience and great acquiescence to the structure of cat， there will be no disorder in body building， so only if the movement is displayed properly， the painter can generalize some details. In “Red Cushion”， the distance of the two forelegs of the black cat tends to be wider than reality.endprint