Woodblock Pictures and Farmers' Painting(3)

 

Blockprinting Promotion Picture It is an ancient gambling device or toy, and was blockprinted. One can throw a die onto the picture and get a promotion by the colour the die drops on.

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Farmers' PictureIt is one of the popular pictures. It is printed and appreciated by farmers. Its forms run the range of self-printed paper horse, gate gods, the portrait of spirits, etc. Nowadays some farmers paint pictures describing rustic life on paper.

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Gaomi Powder-Sprayed Picture It is one type of folk New Year pictures in Gaomi County, Shandong Province. It originated in the Ming Dynasty. To brighten the picture and make it more eye-catching, a kind of brightening oil is smeared on it. This manually made picture selects women and children as its themes.

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Phoenix Picture It is a type of picture enjoying popularity in Fengyang County, Anhui Province. It chooses phoenix as its theme, indicative of propitiousness and happiness. Generally it serves as picture hung on the wall facing the door on the Spring Festival.

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West Lake SceneIt is also called "Western mirror" and in the north it is called "pulling foreign celluloid". It is a type of entertainment emerging in the contemporary time. The viewer looks at the picture through a mirror box. The picture can be pulled back and forth. The characters on the picture can also move. The operator sings while pulling.

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The Stove-End PictureIt is a type of decorative pattern or a picture of theatrical tale which is painted on the ends of a stove. It is painted in a single colour or several colours. Most of its makers are architectural craftsmen in the countryside.

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Farmer's Picture Of Pi County Pi County in Jiangsu Province is a place where farmer"s picture is produced. In the fifties, farmer painters formed the main creating body of pictures. In that period, almost all members in each household liked to draw pictures on wall. It enjoyed a nationwide fame and was well received from all walks of life. Their works reflected rural life, farmer's thoughts and feelings, and their best wishes for the future. They were constituted deftly and boldly expressive beyond limits.Their themes include "Raising Silkworm", "Making Beancurd", "Flaming Mountain", "Waterfall Cave", etc.

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Jinshan Farmer PictureIn 1970s, a modern farmer painting campaign was launched in Jinshan County of Shanghai. The painters amounted to more than 300, from farmers aged 70 to youngsters aged 10 among which the female farmers were the majority. They were inspired by the folk embroidery and paper-cutting. Cultivated in this aroma, they secured an expression of their own life with profound imagination.