Duoyunxuan woodblock watermark enters the campus, experiencing the "living fossil" of printing technology on campus
Woodblock watermark is known as the "living fossil" of printing technology, and is an important component of ancient Chinese civilization and traditional Chinese culture. Since its establishment in 1900, Shanghai Duoyunxuan has inherited the traditional technique of woodblock watermarking. On the afternoon of September 7th, Shanghai Longyuan Middle School and Shanghai Duoyunxuan Culture and Art Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to jointly build the "Woodblock Watermark in Campus" intangible cultural heritage course.
Duoyunxuan and Longyuan Middle School have reached a cooperation agreement
Chen Jie, the teacher of the woodblock watermark course at Duoyunxuan, remembers that she was only 17 years old when she first entered the woodblock watermark studio. "I saw three or two staff members, namely watermark masters, some in their twenties, 40s, and even 60s. At that time, I was thinking about why I was still working in this industry in my 60s." Chen Jie didn't expect that she would be impressed by the charm of woodblock watermarks and become one of them.
Woodblock watermarks originated from woodblock printing techniques and can be traced back to the Sui and Tang dynasties. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, they were mostly used for book illustration printing. By the end of the Ming dynasty, Hu Zhengyan's Ten Bamboo Studio created complex techniques such as "woodblock printing" and "arching flowers", making woodblock watermarks even more rich and exquisite. "Wooden" means stacking, and "woodblock printing" refers to the technique of color overprinting, which involves carving different templates based on the different colors on the artwork, and then comparing them with the original work to sequentially overprint or overprint each block.
After more than a hundred years of research, production, and expansion, Duoyunxuan woodblock watermark has developed into a creative art that integrates painting, carving, and printing. With simple tools and complex techniques, the brushstrokes, ink, and rhymes of Chinese calligraphy and painting can be reproduced in their original and authentic form, achieving a "realistic" effect. In 2008, the woodblock watermark technique of Duoyunxuan was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. In 2014, Shanghai Duoyunxuan was listed as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage productive protection units.
In order to help students understand the watermark technique of Duoyunxuan woodblock and experience the charm of traditional craftsmanship from zero distance, on that day, Chen Jie, as the teaching teacher, took the lead in bringing a unique course promotion meeting to the teachers and students of Longyuan Middle School. The beauty of woodblock watermarks is presented to students through the interpretation of representative works of Duoyunxuan woodblock watermarks, as well as the introduction of the three process flows of sketching, engraving, and watermarks.
Chen Jie gives lectures to teachers and students
"Do you know what 'Duoyun' means?" Chen Jie explained to the students, "Duoyun" is the ancient courtesy name for letters, which is also the origin of the name 'Duoyunxuan'. She introduced that there are several precious works in the history of Duoyunxuan. For example, Ren Bonian's "Celebrating the Birthday of the Immortals", which took 8 years to complete, is the largest woodblock watermark work in history. The three processes of sketching, engraving, and watermark are all handmade, with nearly 2000 sketching drafts and engraving blocks required. The watermark process also requires repeated manual overprinting of over 10000 times. The work depicts 46 immortal characters attending the birthday banquet of the Queen Mother, with a grand scene and auspicious content.
Part of Ren Bonian's "Group of Immortals Celebrating Birthday Painting"
Regarding the intangible cultural heritage project, Longyuan Middle School and Duoyunxuan will jointly utilize their extensive artistic resources to build the "Duoyunxuan Woodblock Watermark Practice Base". With the help of the base resources, high-quality artistic resources will achieve positive communication and seamless integration with intangible cultural heritage education, thus creating a "intangible cultural heritage characteristic school". In March of this year, Duoyun Xuan also signed a friendly cooperation relationship with Xingzhi Foreign Language School, working together to create the "Duoyun Future Artist" program.
