Chinese Woodblock Printing

Traditional Chinese woodblock printing was first engraved or overlaid on wood and then printed on paper. The first wood engraving was made in 868 in the Chinese Tang Dynasty and it was named The Lonely Tree. According to researchers, most of the early Chinese woodblock prints were used as illustrations in books; the art reached a development peak in the Ming Dynasty. Since then woodblock printing has been used to make New Year painting. With the adoption of metal printing and some new printing technology, woodblock printing gradually declined. MORE>>>

s of the Modern Chinese woodblock prints

More than any other art form, the modern woodblock print offers us portraits of the representative "modern Chinese." The characteristics of these portraits are not static over time, however. Constantly changing, they reflect not only the social and political turbulence of the times, but also changing concepts of the role of the Chinese people in their engagement with their society. To investigate the metamorphosis of the human image in the woodblock is, therefore, an interesting way to follow China's search for modernity. The human image is portrayed, variously, as the symbolic bearer of the nation's burdens; as the "new" dignified human being; as a "reformed"-and therefore totally anonymous being, -during the years of Mao tumultuous Cultural Revolution; and in the contemporary world, in a variety of ways.
"We received fantastic prices ... There was amazing interest and this was the biggest Munch auction ever," he said.MORE>>>

ation on important subjects about Chinese prints

An asterisk indicates that there is additional information elsewhere in this section. Chinese names are rendered in pinyin followed by alternate spellings that also appear in the catalogue and/or have gained currency in the West. Reference notes are given at the end of the entry in which they appear.MORE>>>

Technical terms about Chinese prints

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Stages in Woodblock Printing.
Woodblock, or woodcut, printing requires several steps. First, a design is executed on paper, and then the paper is pasted, with the design face downward, on a section of wood. The back of the paper is sanded (or made translucent with water) until the image can again be seen through the thin remaining layer and serve as a guide for carving. The image in the wood is thus a negative, or mirror-image, of both the original design and the picture to be printed. The wood surfaces that remain elevated after carving are inked, and paper is applied to them with pressure. Transfer of ink from block to paper produces the woodblock print. MORE>>>

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