The picture on the title page of the 1,300 year-old Chinese Diamond Prajnaparamita Sutra, now part of the British Museum collection, is believed to be the oldest block print in the world. Modern Chinese woodblock printing started in China in the 1930s, and, in the interests of realistic representation, used only black and white shades.
Modern Chinese woodblock printing was thus born into an artistic era where realism ruled. After 70 years progress, it has diversified, and its value is appreciated all the more for having originated as a means of depicting the true spirit of real life. Wu Changjiang is a celebrated realist block print artist.
Born in 1954 in Tianjin, Wu was recruited by the Block Print Department of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in 1978, and has been teaching there since his graduation. He is now dean of the department. Most of his works portray the life of herdsmen on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. His stone etchings, Milking the Cow, and, Tibetan Woman, and copperplate etchings, Son of the Plateau, and Pasture in Early Spring, have won block printing awards in China and overseas. His works are skillful and lifelike, reflecting his understanding of the stark simplicity of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a land unique to China.
Wu first went to Tibet to sketch in 1983. He awoke one morning to see the entire landscape covered in a dense layer of snow, broken up only by a tent and a few yaks. In Wu's eyes, the tent is not only the living space of the Tibetan people, but also a symbol of their life force. The dynamic black and white contrast of this scene left a deep impression on Wu. Since then, he has been 15 times to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to sketch and gain inspiration for his woodblock creations.
In his stone etching, Shower, rain has just fallen, the dark clouds have not yet receded, and the sun's faint rays fall on the mountains, horses and the herdsmen, while ripples on the lake surface endlessly whirl and extend, giving the work a strong three-dimensional effect. Wu's punctilious polishing and stone granule aquatint imbue it with a rhythmic, fresh and simple style, emulating the Tibetan chant for their land.
Copperplate etching has a history of more than 500 years in Europe, and was introduced to China during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). A studio for copperplate etching was first set up in the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in the 1950s. Wu Changjiang's work in this genre, Shepherd Girl in the Bayan Har Mountain, depicts a scene from Tibetan life. After his application of aquatint, the lines delineating human figures metamorphose; the women's robes similarly treated with several layers of aquatint appear heavy in the sun light, while the edges of the robe lightly aquatinted refract the sun light, giving a visually downy effect. The empty spaces for hair and clothing ornaments form a striking contrast with the sunlight, conveying the pure, unsullied mode of life of Tibetan women. Wu pays particular attention to the subtle changes in color of the lines on his copperplate etchings to give them more impact. His black lines do not override other, more delicate, lines, giving his creations a timeless beauty.
The scenes Wu sketches from life record their effect on him. On his desk are piles of sketches drawn on his various journeys, and each time he looks at them, memories of familiar faces and scenes are rekindled in his mind. Having lived for extended periods of time with the herdsmen, he has witnessed how their children, growing up in an utterly unrefined environment, feel a natural ease and intimacy among animals and within nature.
On one occasion, as Wu was sketching, he saw a young Tibetan boy sitting next to the driver of a tractor traveling along the road, when on the grassland, a small horse suddenly fell into the marsh. The boy and the tractor driver stopped and dragged the horse on to the flat grassland. The tractor then continued on its way and gradually disappeared from Wu's sight as the horse grazed contentedly on the grassland. This picture stayed in Wu's memory. In his working series, Son of the Plateau, the gestures and expressions of the grassland boy display a wild beauty infused with an unconscious bravery and vitality. The backdrop to these creations is the vast sky and sturdy resilient grass, thereby accentuating the stark severity of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Wu also excels at watercolor painting -- another means of accumulating materials for his block print creations, and it is also a vehicle for his artistic expression.
When he was in Kaxgar in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region, Wu drew many colored sketches. He used simple, expressive lines to record his on-the-spot reactions to the scenes he observed. His works, Hammering a Horseshoe and Old Mosque reflect his spontaneous reaction to these scenarios. "It is impossible to express the effect such scenes have on one's sensibilities unless one has been there and personally appreciated such beauty," says Wu Changjiang of his creations. In his watercolor painting Old Kaxgar City, the sky is blank, and the free market is in three colors to reflect the bustling crowd. In this painting, lines are used to depict the main body, and the colors as a subsidiary means of injecting life and vigor into the work.
To date, Wu's works have been published in Wu Changjiang Tibet Sketch Album, Wu Changjiang's World -- Block Print Album and Wu Changjiang Sketch Album, all of which reflect Wu's commitment to, and fascination with, his subjects. Wu Changjiang's sketches and block prints form part of the collections of the Chinese Art Gallery, the British Museum, and the Portland Museum in the US.
(Chinatoday.com 05/16/2001)
