Studies On Ancient Suzhou Chromatic Prints

Suzhou engravings was originated in the Woodblock printing process from Song Dynasty. By the late Ming Dynasty, it was developed into a folk art school - Suzhou genre engravings. Since the late Qing Dynasty of Emperor Kangxi, Suzhou chromatic prints began flourishing. It reached heyday during the period of Emperor Yongzheng and Qianlong, and tended to decline in the period of Emperor Jiaqing, when the works were called "Suzhou edition." In Emperor Daoguang Period, "Taixi brushwork" in Suzhou version disappeared, replacing by Taohuawu woodcut paintings with a strong folk nature.Ancient Suzhou chromatic prints had a distinct regional characteristics, and its artistic qualities changed in different historical periods. The formation of different style in each stage of development, as well as the transition of styles in phase shift between the stages were constrained by the factors of society and era. Therefore, the art style of ancient Suzhou chromatic prints was not static, but diversified along with the community changes. More importantly, since Suzhou chromatic prints orients to different audiences in each development stage, their artistic styles had a different aesthetic characteristics and artistic effect.According to the changes of audience and cultural connotation of Suzhou chromatic prints, the development of Suzhou chromatic prints was divided into three historical phases with distinctive characteristics in this thesis, respectively:Suzhou ancient version before mid Kangxi Period, with a traditional Chinese painting meticulous realism as the melody, and multi-version overprinted in boneless style; Suzhou version in the late Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong and Jiaqing period, with realist style landscape genre painting as the principal part, overprinted in "Taixi brushwork"; Taohuawu woodcut paintings since Daoguang period, with characteristics of folk nature,overprinted in flatbed and flat color.This thesis takes comprehensive analysis and study on the evolution of ancient Suzhou chromatic prints, exploration on historical questions of its development, excavation and consolidation of the missing links, detailed analysis on the different style and printing techniques in various stages, striving to faithfully tidy up the historical debris of ancient Suzhou chromatic prints. With ordered image material, the thesis restores that the ancient Suzhou chromatic prints is more than Taohuawu woodcut paintings, which fading in the late Qing Dynasty as generally known, but a complete development process with historical continuity and transformative.Ancient Suzhou has produced the world’s largest chromatic prints, spreading eastward to Japanese, it also had a profound impact on the Japanese ukiyo-e. Through the detailed analysis, the thesis proved that Suzhou version of On-screen painting was tailored for the Japanese counterpart. Ancient Suzhou chromatic prints fascinated Europeans in 17th and 18th century. Castles in France were decorated not only high-end porcelain from China, but also ancient Suzhou chromatic prints as the stylish decor of the Elites. It is fair to say that Suzhou chromatic prints was one of the highlights among the "China fever", which swept Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.