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Edutainment > Articles on Art > Yunnan Art School > Chinese Prints from Yunnan

After decades of absence from the international art scene, modern Chinese art is presently jumping into the awareness of western and Asian art lovers and buyers. The major wave is carried by Chinese art prints. And among them, the Art School of Yunnan is the one that causes most attention. Art prints from this South-Western Chinese province are like the region they come from - colorful, magnificent and diverse.

Yunnan - South of Cloud

Yun Nan means literally translated "South of Cloud". According to the legend, the name was created by a Chinese emperor of the Tang dynasty in the 8th century, when a prince from this region had made a journey to the Chinese imperial court and tried to explain where he came from.

Yunnan is the most South-Western province of China - adjacent to Birma, Laos and Vietnam. During the times of Chinese imperial rule, Yunnan was mainly a place to send unwanted persons into exile. Even today, Yunnan is still considered by many Chinese as some kind of a far-away wilderness province.

Yunnan is home to 26 ethnic minorities, who kept their rich culture alive until our days - at least in the rural and mountainous areas. The major cultural groups are the Yi, Naxi, Bai, Dai, Aini and Hani. Although they are very diverse, they have some characteristics in common like the rich, colorful costumes or the use of simple houses with thatched roofs.

The landscape is exotic and subtropical in the lower areas. In the South and West, the mountains reach as high as above 6,000 meter. Pagodas and Buddhist cloisters are another landmark of Yunnan. The most Southern part of Xishuangbanna is homeland to wild animals that you would not expect in China - elephants, tigers, leopards and rhinos. The subtropical jungle area is located mainly along the Mekong river.

Yunnan - Art School

Chinese prints Yunnan

Rice Terraces in Yunnan

When you look at art history, you will find many examples of picturesque, beautiful and remote areas in which important art movements were born or where artist communities established themselves.

Yunnan is such an example. Over the last 20 years this little province has developed into one of the major art centers in China - probably the best known of all. In the meantime the art world begins to speak of the Yunnan Art School - meaning not a specific art academy or an institute, but the aggregation of all artistic activities in Yunnan province.

The major art institutions of Yunnan are the Yunnan Art College in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan and the Qujing Print Institute. Many artists work as professors or as recognized painters at these art institutions. The artists are organized in different associations in some kind of a hierarchical structure on provincial level and on a national level. Yunnan has a provincial artist association and a printmakers association. The importance of an artist can to a certain degree be recognized by the positions held in these associations. Like in Japan, titles and honors are important in the Chinese society.

Rural art communities like in the Normandy or in the Provence in France or the Blue Rider near the Bavarian Alps were established by frustrated artists who had fled the big cities. Not so in Yunnan. Nearly all artists of the "Yunnan School" that we encountered so far, were born in Yunnan. The Yunnan art scene is something naturally grown, a richness that developed out of its own roots.

The Artists

Chinese prints Yunnan

Lake in the Far Distance
Yang Yongsheng born 1967, copyright Yang Yongsheng

The following is not a hit list of Yunnan artists, but a list of artists from the Yunnan Art School that we have encountered since springtime of 2003. It is definitely not complete. However the names listed here, do belong to the best known artists from Yunnan province.

• Hao Ping - born 1952

Hao Ping was born in Yunan in China. In 1980 he graduated from the Department of Fine Art of Yunnan Art College. He is one of the figure heads of the Yunnan Art School. Hao Ping had several exhibitions outside China - in Japan, USA, France and Germany. His works are in the possession of museums in the USA and in Japan. Hao Ping's prints are made as woodcuts in thick, bright oil colors.

• Lu Runeng - born 1940

Lu Runeng was born in Kunming in Yunnan province. In 1995 he graduated from Si Chuan Fine Art Academy. Presently he works as a painter of the Qujing Print Institute.

• Ma Li - born 1958

Ma Li was born in Yunnan Province, China. Since 1986 he has exhibited widely in China, Japan and also in the UK. The artist works primarily in the woodcut reduction print technique. His work is very colorful and depicts the life of the rural minority communities in Yunnan. Ma Li teaches at the Simao University and has held workshops in the woodblock reduction technique in Bristol, UK.

• Shi Yi - born 1939

Shi Yi is professor at Yunnan Art College. His media is the woodcut. The technique used by him, is wet water printing, a specifically Chinese method that produces watercolor-like image. Shi Yi belongs to the major representatives of Yunnan Art School. His works are not only in Chinese museums but in some major Western museums as well. The artist has exhibited in the U.S.A. and in Europe.

• Yang Yongsheng - born 1967

Yang Yongsheng was born in Yujing, Yunnan province. He graduated from the Print department of Yunnan Fine Art Academy. Presently he is director of the Qujing Print Institute. His art works are in Chinese and Japanese museums. Yang Yongsheng received awards at art exhibitions in Yunnan and in Canada.

• Zhang Xiaochun - born 1959

Zhang Xiaochun was born in Mojiang, in Yunnan province. In 1980 he graduated from Simao Art School (Yunnan) and in 1984 from Yunnan Fine Art Academy. The artist has received several outstanding, national Chinese awards. His art works are in the collections of several Chinese art museums.

Printmaking Techniques

Chinese prints Yunnan

Pathway to go to Mountains
by Ma Li born 1958, copyright Ma Li

The Chinese printmakers use mostly the traditional woodblock technique. The use of woodblocks for printing text and images was probably invented in China.

There are basically two different printing techniques - printing in oil colors or the use of wet water printing.

The wet water technique is an old and specifically Chinese method. The paper is wetted before the color is applied. The result is a print image that looks a bit like a watercolor. This technique requires a lot of skill and experience and often only a small part of the prints drawn, can be used. Shi Yi is the major representative of the wet water printing technique among the Yunnan artists.

Oil color printing is more straight forward. And to create a print in brilliant colors, oil color printing is the choice number one. It is therefore not surprising that most of the Yunnan artists use this technique. Hao Ping is the best example for this technique. He uses thick layers of brilliant, colorful oil color for his prints. Art lovers who go for color, will probably love his works.

Finally a speciality must be mentioned - the woodblock reduction print. It is a technique that uses only one woodblock to create a multicolor print.

Normally you have to carve one block for each color as the Japanese have done. Or you have to make one key-line block in black and white and have to color the finished print by hand as the old European printmakers did.

Not so for some smart artists from Yunnan. They cut the design on a block for the first color, then print from this block. Then they cut the relief for the second color out of the same block and so on. At the end nothing is left of the woodblock. And the printing process is not repeatable. And even if the prints thus created should sell like hot potatoes, there is no way of making a second edition.

Picasso used the same principle for linocuts. But that is the only thing in common. Apart from his early years, Picasso hardly ever spent more than a few hours on one art work. The Yunnan artists spend usually several weeks before a new print will be finished.

Print Subjects

Chinese prints Yunnan

Woman from Yunnan in Colorful Costume

Western ecologists would probably bring Yunnan artists in connection with environmental preservation. Rural landscapes, villages of shrubbed houses, beauties in gorgeous costumes, mystical scenes in either subdued or brilliant colors - these are the typical subjects of Yunnan artists.

The styles of the different artists are very diverse. When you see these prints for the first time, you are surprised. They look very creative, very original and honest. And they look pretty imaginary - more like a dream world. Or does that dreamland still exist in Yunnan?

Art critics will probably come up with the same argument they used for the Japanese shin hanga art movement. That the images show a world that has ceased to exist a long time ago. Maybe they are right. But who cares? Yunnan prints are art - and well made art. You can hang an art print by Hao Ping or Shi Yi on your walls and you will neither get bored, nor will you have the feeling of kitsch - not even after months.

Prints from the Yunnan Art School were primarily not made for art buyers from the West. Nevertheless they appeal to Westerners as much as to Asians.

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Yunnan Art School