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Shan Dan, born 1954
copyright Shan Dan

Shan Dan was born and lives in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia. After a thorough art training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, she has worked as art teacher and printmaker in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia. Her breakthrough as an artist came in in the late 1990s, when she was honored with a solo exhibition at the China National Museum of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1998. And one year later, she had received the Luxun Print Prize.

Resumé

Shan Dan was born in 1954. In the official wording of the Chinese administration, she belongs to the Dawoer ethnic minority. She is a member of China Artists Association, of Chinese Printmakers' Association, of the Chinese Art Education Seminar, vice president of Tongliao City Artists' Association and vice professor of Tongliao Professional Institute of Inner Mongolia.

After Shan Dan had finished the Normal School of Tongliao Zelimumeng, she studied art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. After 1973, she began her own art creations in different fields: traditional Chinese New Year prints (folk art prints), paper-cuts, illustrations, prints and paintings. Her artworks have been shown at National and International exhibitions. Shan Dan is married to Wu Enqi, a well-known printmaker in China and Mongolia.

Technique, Style and Editions

The Setting Sun, 1991
copyright Shan Dan

Shan Dan works in different printmaking techniques. But since the late 1980s she seems to prefer reduction woodblock prints. She works with oil-based as well as in water-soluble inks. Shan Dan's editions have been very small, seldom more than 12. This might change in the future, as the Chinese market for art prints has virtually not existed until recently.

The paper on which Shan Dan prints her works, is the usual Chinese made paper, reaching from a thin and pliable (ideal for shipping) to a very thick paper. Potential buyers and collectors of contemporary Chinese prints should know that the paper used by Chinese artists is generally of modest quality. It does however not affect the artistic value of the modern Chinese prints.

Awards

• 1987 - Third prize of the First National Children's Reading Matter Illustration.
• 1988 - Third prize of the National Exlibris Contest.
• 1990 - Silver prize of the National Exlibris Exhibition.
• 1998 - First solo exhibition at China Fine Arts Museum.
• 1999 - Honored as outstanding printmaker of the 1980s by Luxun print prize.

A Dream of Printmaking - by Shan Dan

Saint Fire, 1999
copyright Shan Dan

"I think it is your fate, and therefore it can be realized!" (Shan Dan)

We at artelino had received the following text written by Shan Dan herself. She tells about how she came into contact with the world of prints and how she became an art teacher and print artist. In her modesty, she speaks a lot about her first steps and her art education, but little about her success as a mature printmaker.

"When I entered the primary school, it was the time of "Learning from Lei Feng". (Note by artelino: Lei Feng was a role model used by the Chinese Communist Party for propaganda. His image had been omnipresent on Chinese propaganda posters under the campaign slogan "Learning from Lei Feng".) All the awards we received, were papers with the impression of Lei Feng's image. I remember that the papers always had the smell of ink. Later we understood that these prints with straight and powerful lines and strong contrasts of white and black always looked better than any other colored propaganda prints that hung on the walls.

During the Cultural Revolution, I saw our teacher carving the print of "Ma, En, Lie, Si & Mao" (Note by artelino: Shan Dan speaks of Karl Max, Friedrich Engels, Lenin and Mao Zedong. The word "Si" means "thoughts".) The knives with round knobs, trigonal knob and diagonal knob were moved on the red veneer. The white wood powders were fluttering like in a procession of light. I touched the knives secretly with the thought of carving a print myself in the future. At that time, I was twelve years old.

When I entered the middle common school, I came into contact with the print medium for a second time. The Union Culture Bureau wanted to publish a print collection "Jerrimu Print Omnibus" (Note by artelino: Jerrimu is another pronunciation for Zelimumeng. And with "Jerrimu Print Omnibus" Shan Dan means "Zelimumeng Prints Collection Album/Folio".). Because of the big amount of work, the Bureau needed several students for help. I was very lucky to be chosen. However, we could not use knives but only "wood mushrooms" (Note by artelino: an old tool used for printmaking) instead. The work was very dull. But I was finally familiar with the whole process of producing a print.

Happy Clouds and Water, 2002
copyright Shan Dan

The first time I picked up the print knife was in the 1980s. In 1982, I went to Beijing to visit the Hang Mo Print Collection Exhibition. During that exhibition, I had seen many things for the first time, such as the print works created by Li Hua, Gu Yuan, Wang Qi, and Liang Dong, various printing machines in the studio, students exercising in the corridor and the "Japanese Children Print Exhibition" in display at the Museum of the Central Art College. After seeing so many new things, the desire to create myself suddenly seized my mind.

From then on, I had created some works and several of them had been published in local newspapers. In 1983, my first watermark print "My Home" was collected by the China Art Museum together with Jerrimu prints. And my work "Breeding Flower" was collected by the China Exhibition Organizing Company.

I worked as an art teacher at a middle common school. At that time, I had many students. I had tried my best to impart my immature skills to them. Their works were exhibited at the China Art Museum and the China Children Activity Center. Our Mongolian children had showed their ideals to the whole world, which had also been my own dream during my childhood.

I truly realized my dream during the years when I was learning in the Print Department of the Central Art College. I had met famous print artists such as Li Hua, Gu Yuan, Wang Qi and Li Pingfan. And I had learned from the print professors such as Liang Dong, Song Yuanwen, Guang Jun and Wu Changjiang. I had formally learned the skills of woodcarving, copperplate, silkscreen and others.

Mother Earth's Kiss No. 1, 2003
copyright Shan Dan

In the mid 1980s, the literature and art field in our country was shocked by the wave of reforms and opening of China towards the rest of the world. Also my conception had changed along with these reforms. After visiting the Lawsonbert's exhibition, I began to appreciate Picasso's paintings and began to research the Dong Fangzhi's prints (Note by artelino: Dong Fangzhi is the Chinese pronunciation of the famous Japanese printmaker Shiko Munakata). I gained much enthusiasm and inspiration from those two artists.

I can still remember clearly how I exercised on woodcarving in black and white for 7 weeks. During this first step, I had created about 50 pieces of work. And back from learning, I continued to create prints. My print dreams had been realized by my students.

Although I had not yet created a distinguished work, I still tried my best to draw and carve. In 1998, in the exhibition of "Shan Dan Print Exhibition" held in the China Art Museum, I had exhibited 30 of my prints and two of those were collected by China Art Museum.

I am lucky to live in an area with excellent print tradition, and I got the support and help from the artists of the older generation."

(Shan Dan's text edited by artelino - January 2005)

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