Chinese Nianhua ‘New Year’ Woodblock
Prints
Series 1 and 2
A folio of 16 coloured woodblock prints published by Rong Bao Zhai (Jung
Pao Chai), in 1949.
These newly created prints were copied from earlier produced, black and
white, prints on the same themes.
The size of the 1949 prints was reduced to a standard paper size of 29.5
x 19.8 cm, and was released in 1950. The size of the actual prints
varies slightly from plate to plate. The prints are numbered 1 to 8
twice, for reasons that are unexplained. The vendor believed these sets
to have been produced as corporate gifts, rather than for general sales.
The prints are stored in a simple Jung Pao Chai folder.
Nianhua prints were originally produced in monochrome. On the
instruction of Chairman Mao in 1949, the current posters are polychrome
copies version of earlier monochrome prints, (or, occasionaly
paintings), separate woodblocks had to be cut, one for each colour. See
‘comparative prints’.
As a point of interest to the Western mind, a woodblock print is a print
created from a block of wood which the artist both cuts and printed
from. In this instance, coloured version of such prints were published
by Jung Pao Chai, famous Beijing publishers, also known as Rongbaochai.
This firm had been publishing art-books since the late 19th century,
specializing in quality reproductions of earlier artworks. These could
be calligraphy, poetry, woodblock prints or paintings. Their reputation
for high quality products have made their prints accepted as original
works of art in their own right, with the prints credited to the artist
who cut the original woodblock.
Series 1 and 2 of this page were produced in 1949 and two of the prints
shown here were included in the catalogue of the ‘All-China Conference
of Representatives of Literary and Art Workers’ exhibition in Beijing in
October1949.These examples are: Series 2 nr. 1. Yen Han. ‘Placing
Explosives Behind Enemy Lines, with the earlier print in black and white
and copied in a coloured version. Nr 4 in the same series is Mo Pu’s,
‘The Day of Reckoning’ which, in its original form was a large oil
painting which, in the copied version is titled, ‘The Hour of
Reckoning’. (Mo Pu, was Head of the Hangzhou Academy of Art at the
time).
Series 3
These 20 prints date from 1950 – 1952 with many of them being reproduced
in publications of that period. They are an accumulation of individual
prints, brought together and currently being studied to establish their
details such as which prints belong to which specific folder.
Series 4, 5 and 6
These are three sets
of 10 prints, each numbered 1 to 10. This numbering has come about from
a collection of individual prints from which we made 3 sets with numbers
1 to 10, not according to how they were published.
Series 1 - Chinese, English and Russian language. Size: 20.2 x 29.2 cm
Series 2 - Chinese, English and Russian language. Size: 20.2 x 29.2 cm
Series 3 - Chinese Language only. Size: 24.8 X 33.8 cm
Series 4 - Chinese, English and Russian language. Size: 24.8 X 33.8 cm
Series 5 - Chinese, English and Russian language. Size: 24.8 X 33.8 cm
