Mianzhu New Year Wood-block Prints 绵竹木版年画

时间：2006年
Time: 2006
类别：民间美术
Category: Folk Art
地区：四川
Region: Sichuan Province
编号：Ⅶ-11
Ref. No.: Ⅶ-11
申报地区或单位：四川省德阳市
Nominating unit[s]: Deyang city, Sichuan Province
绵竹市地处四川盆地西北边缘，盛产竹子，其中最为著名的绵竹是造纸的上好材料。绵竹木版年画技艺主要分布在绵竹市城区剑南镇和北部的拱星镇、清道镇、新市镇、孝德镇等地。
Located in the northwest edge of the Sichuan Basin, Mianzhu City is rich in bamboo, and amongst other materials, the famous Mianzhu bamboo is perfect for making paper. Mianzhu New Year wood-block prints are mainly produced in Jiannan Town in the urban area, and Gongxing Town, Qingdao Town, Xinshi Town and Xiaode Town in the north of Mianzhu City.
绵竹龙门山中段与成都平原北部连接，成都自唐以来便是国内雕版印刷的中心，绵竹受其影响，相传在宋代已有木版年画生产。据口述资料，清代乾嘉年间，绵竹有年画从业人员九百余人，大小规模不一的作坊三百多户，年产包括门画、斗方、屏堂、杂条、拓片、案子在内的年画一千二百多万幅，远销云南、贵州、陕西、青藏、两湖及四川省内各地。绵竹木版年画的题材除传统的门神画以外，还涉及戏曲故事、山水花鸟、写景纪实、吉祥图案等。绵竹各地年画制作有专业分工，城区偏重拓片、杂条、斗方、案子，并兼及门画；清道乡偏重彩色清水大袍；遵道乡偏重美人、娃娃戏，如此等等。绵竹木版年画兴盛时，出现了行会组织"伏羲会"，自发对年画产品进行评议。20世纪初，绵竹木版年画开始衰落，此后日趋萧条，休业者众。
The middle section of Longmen Mountains in Mianzhu is connected with the north of Chengdu Plain, which has been the national center of wood-block printing since the Tang Dynasty. Thanks to having such a geographical advantage, it is said that Mianzhu began to produce New Year wood-block pictures as early as the Song Dynasty. According to an oral description, during the reigns of Emperor Qianlong and Emperor Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, over nine hundred people were engaged in this business in Mianzhu. Furthermore, more than three hundred workshops emerged in varying sizes, with an annual production count of twelve million copies of door-god pictures, square scrolls, hanging scrolls without axis, miscellaneous scrolls, rubbings and shrine pictures sold to Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Tibet, Hubei, Hunan, and Sichuan. In addition to the traditional door gods, themes of Mianzhu New Year wood-block prints also include dramatic stories, landscapes and bird and flowers, drawings from nature, current events, auspicious patterns, and so on. Painting production in Mianzhu is highly professionalized with a clear division of labor. The urban area is mainly engaged in rubbings, miscellaneous articles, square scrolls, shrine pictures and door-god paintings; Qingdao Town specializes in the colored Qingshui Gown; and Zundao Town excels at beauties and playing children. In the golden era of Mianzhu New Year wood-block prints, a guild named "Fuxi Hui" was formed to provide peer review on the New Year pictures. In the early 20th century, Mianzhu wood-block prints began to decline, and have struggled to survive ever since, with many practitioners quitting to their job.
绵竹木版年画与地方习俗紧密联系在一起，仅张贴就有许多规矩，不能违背。画中种种图像亦有不同的象征与解释，和图像一起反映或呈现在各种民俗仪式中。明清时，除神佛题材外，绵竹木版年画中已大量出现戏曲题材，绵竹的画师根据川剧剧目绘制年画，创作出《白狗争凤》、《五子告母》等作品。从体裁论，绵竹木版年画有"红货"和"黑货"之分，"红货"是指彩绘年画，"黑货"是指以烟墨或朱砂拓印的木版拓片。
Mianzhu New Year wood-block prints are closely linked with the local customs. There are even special rules and taboos for how a picture should be posted. Various images in the painting have different symbols and indications, which are reflected or presented in a variety of folk rituals. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, in addition to Buddha and other gods, dramatic stories also appeared frequently in the Mianzhu pictures. Artists in Mianzhu drew White Dogs Fighting for the Phoenix, Five Sons Indicting Their Mother and many other New Year picture works inspired by episodes of the Sichuan opera. In terms of genre, Mianzhu New Year wood-block prints are divided into "red prints" and "black prints". "Red prints" refer to colored paintings, while "black prints" refer to wood-block rubbings copied with soot ink or vermilion.
绵竹木版年画制作包括起稿、刻版、印墨、施彩、盖花等工序。其艺术特点一是手工彩绘，同一张版因不同的手绘，效果不一；二是对称性构图；三是运用色相和色度对比，尤善用金色（如沥金、堆金、贴金）。但比较而言，最见特色的还是"填水脚"（指用剩余颜料涂抹的一种样式）。
The production process of Mianzhu New Year wood-block prints includes drafting, block engraving, ink printing, color printing, gaihua and other processes. They have several unique artistic features, including the colored hand-drawing, which may lead to different effects in prints made with the same engraving, along with symmetry composition, and the matching of hue and color, gold in particular (e.g. different gilding skills), and above all, Tian Shuijiao (referring to smearing the picture with remaining pigment).
清代乾隆以后，绵竹木版年画代出名师，从未间断，现在这一技艺的主要传承人有李方福、陈兴才等。20世纪50年代以后，绵竹木版年画在多次政治运动中受到毁灭性的打击，不少传承人被剥夺了绘画的权利，古版亦遭破坏。近20年来，年画的制作与生产虽已恢复，但市场开始萎缩，因此有的传承人卖版子毁笔，不再从事年画制作。
Since the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, masters of Mianzhu prints continued to flourish for generations. Nowadays, Li Fangfu and Chen Xingcai are the only representative inheritors of this traditional art. In the 1950s, the art of Mianzhu New Year wood-block prints was devastated in a number of political campaigns, with many artists deprived of the rights of painting, and numerous ancient engravings sabotaged. Production of New Year pictures has resumed in the past 20 years, but the market has shrunk. As a result, some inheritors have simply chosen to sell their engravings and quit their career altogether to start a different life.