Wang Weixin Drypoint Teaching Research

This paper focuses on Professor Wang Weixin’s period as head of the Copper Plate Etching Studio of the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts [CAFA|in Beijing from1979—1998. and the expansion of research on the teaching of etching during these years. The paper takes Professor Wang’s teaching work as the starting point for its research, explaining how he restored the teaching of copper plate etching, which had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and re-established order and standards. He also made the content of the teaching broader and livelier. As a result, print-making as a subject laid down deeper roots at the Academy, developing in a well-organized, stable and systematic way throughout the1980s and90s.The paper takes as its approach the case-study method, focusing on describing and explaining the links between various events, and their often complex causal relationships. It summarizes evidence gathered from various sources, analyzes it, and cross-references it, in an attempt to locate Wang Weixin against the social backdrop and educational environment of that period, and thus highlight the impact and significance of his work. His period in charge of the Copper Plate Etching Studio and the teaching of printmaking at CAFA was the longest in the institution’s history, and-building on the foundations laid by his predecessors-he did a great deal of valuable work to develop the studio and the teaching of the discipline, while also providing an important reference point for other colleges in China which were seeking to establish their own courses in printmaking during this period.