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Edutainment > The Three Woodblock Masters
Their styles and techniques are different. But they have one thing in common. Hao Boyi, Hao Ping and Shi Yi are top leading artists of contemporary Chinese woodblock printmaking. Their meaning for modern Chinese printmaking is in our view comparable to the importance of for instance Ito Shinsui, Hasui Kawase and Hiroshi Yoshida for the Japanese shin hanga movement or Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro for the development of modern art in the 20th century.
If the Chinese Ministry of Culture should ever introduce an honor comparable to the "Intangible National Treasure" award of the Japanese government, these three artists should be among the foremost candidates.
This article is a wrap-up. For biographies of each artist, please see Hao Boyi, Shi Yi and Hao Ping.
Hao Boyi (born 1938) - The Grand "Old" Master
"Elegant", "stunning", "reduced to the essential" or "less is more". These are often the words you can read in essays on the art of Hao Boyi. Indeed, he is the master of "Hiding the Scene". This is an old mantra of traditional Chinese painting. It was published in a book by Tang Zhiqie during the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) and has been the basic study book for generations of Chinese artists.
"Hide more scene, and you'll display more scene. If all has been presented, that is superficial." (Ming dynasty, Tang Zhiqie)
Hao Boyi is not only the master of "hiding the scene", he is also on the crest of Chinese art organizations as director of China Artist Association plus a couple of more posts in different Chinese art and artist associations.
It is astonishing that Hao Boyi still finds the time to create art prints. Although he retired officially some time ago, he is still pretty active as a printmaker. A series of cranes, created in 2002 and 2003, is in our opinion among his best works.
When one compares early works by the artist, let's say from the 1970s and early 1980s, one can see how he progressed over several decades in "hiding the scene". But while his compositions have become more and more sparse in details, the concentration on one subject has remained the same for all these years. Hao Boyi's favorite theme is the wildlife of his homeland where he grew up, the region of Beidahuang (Northern big barren) in Heilonjiang province in the North-East of China. The area used to be a barren, remote grassland populated only by a few nomad tribes and a rich habitat of wild animals - cranes, bears, deer and many more. But in the 1950s under the rule of Mao Zedong, ten thousands of youths were sent into the area to cultivate the land for agriculture. It was of course a crash between civilization and the natural environment. We are not familiar with the environmental impact that was caused. But it is sure that Hao Boyi has documented masterly what either still exists (we hope so) or what once was.
Literature
- "The Art of Contemporary Chinese Woodcuts", The Muban Foundation, ISBN 0-9546048-1-4, pages 134-135
Shi Yi (born 1939) - The Professor
A man sitting on the bare snow and making sketches. A bit crazy he must be! And of good health!
Well, Shi Yi is a professor, but not a crazy professor. But he is very passionate about his art. He reminds in his attitude a bit of the old Hokusai, who had described himself as "mad for painting".
The second passion of Shi Yi is about the natural environment. He lives and works in Yunan, the most Southern-West province of China, adjacent to Birma, Laos and Vietnam. This region is populated by - what the "official" China calls "ethnic minority groups". Yunan means literally something like Southern cloud. Many Chinese still see Yunan as a remote land of wilderness.
Professor Shi Yi's prints show a strange world: jungle, small villages built on steep slopes of mountains like an eagle's nest, small rivers surrounded by woods in the golden autumn sun. Shi Yi's prints look like a mixture of images from a remote planet or an unpopulated kind of Disney Land. Shi Yi's world does still exist. However it has come under attack by modern civilization in the form of several ambitious dam projects planned to provide more energy for the fast growing Chinese economy.
Shi Yi could be called an environmentalist, maybe also a dreamer. He wants to show in his prints a pure world, a world of beauty, love and harmony. That's the artist's mission:
"I wish I can build in my pictures a pure land - a true world full of beauty and good, a world which can free people of the hardships, anxieties and worries of the worldy land. I wish that in my pictures you can find the instant serenity of soul, like seeing a cool and clear stream in front of after the long journey in the vast desert, or the the first ray of dawn before you after the endless night. I wish that in my pictures you may feel joyous and above all worldly troubles and worries."
No doubt, Professor Shi Yi has a philosophy - and it sounds pretty likeable. And we are convinced that it has contributed to Shi Yi's success as a printmaker: The majority of art lovers wants to see the beautiful side of life in an art object.
Shi Yi uses the old and traditional and specifically Chinese way of printing with water-soluble inks. This method creates a print image that looks a bit like a water color. But it requires a lot of skill and experience.
Literatur
- "Chinese Printmaking Today", published by British Library, ISBN 0 7123 4823 9, page 96-97
Hao Ping (born 1952) - The Freelancer
If you like color and composition, you will probably like the print works by Hao Ping, the youngest of the three exceptional woodblock printmakers presented on this page.
Hao Ping uses thick oil-based inks for printing. This gives his graphic works a look like they were small oil-paintings. Hao Ping uses usually a magic number of 15 different colors, meaning he has to carve 15 blocks - one for each color. The subjects are taken from his homeland Yunan: beautiful women in the colorful costumes of the "ethnic minorities". The artist's print compositions often have some reference to old regional legends, historical events and local customs.
Hao Ping is rather popular in China. Lately prints of his hit prices of more than USD500 at national real world auctions. And while many printmakers in China have an employment with a steady income at an art college or university, Hao Ping tries to get along as a freelancer, making a living by what he can sell on the national and international art market.
Hao Ping has widely exhibited in and outside of China - Europe, North America and Japan. His art works are in many Chinese museums and in a few outside China. He is one of the 60 artists who were selected by the Muban Foundation in London to represent modern Chinese woodblock printmaking. His print works were also shown at the exhibition of the British Library in London from November 3, 2003 until March 7, 2004.
Literatur
- "Chinese Printmaking Today", published by British Library, ISBN 0 7123 4823 9, page 170
- "The Art of Contemporary Chinese Woodcuts", The Muban Foundation, ISBN 0-9546048-1-4, pages 136-137
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