The Traditional Wood Engraving Picture In Line’s Heritage And Development

The late Qing Dynasty was an important division for the heritage and development of the line-drawing of Taohuawu wood engraving picture. This article focuses on its developments, which showed up two tendencies:one was"continuity of antiquity"; the other was"imitating Europe"."Continuity of antiquity" was extension of traditional line drawing. While "imitating Europe" was a new element of Taohuawu wood engraving pictures, the primary cause of this development was that:the Opium War opened the gate of Qing Dynasty, following massive influx of missionaries, through whom western art concepts spread in China and prompted the emergence of the combing style between Chinese and western painting which popularized in Suzhou Taohuawu areas. This development injected new elements to our traditional printmaking.There was a distinguishing mixed sino-western feature in Taohuawu wood engraving. Works during this period not only blended Western drawing style with Chinese drawing style, but also integrated different customs and practices. Early works presented Western features, however, due to the limitation of technique and material, the westernization couldn’t be wholesale. Hence, the lines in wood engraving did more than absorbing the lining skills in western copper engraving. While accepting western techniques, it didn’t abandon traditional drawing methods, but prospered as a integration of both and popularized till mid-Qing dynasty. In late Qing dynasty, Taohuawu wood engraving, overall, returned to a flavor of traditional Chinese drawing because of the influences of aesthetics and artists. At last, ancient line-engraving took a dominant position.There are not as many remaining original Taohuawu engraving works as expected. Most works are copies made by later generations. The main reason of this was the reduced market in late Qing dynasty. Especially in late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, Qing army besieged Suzhou, and workshops in Shantang and Fengqiao areas burned for seven days, printing blocks almost all ruined. Presently, government and non-governmental organizations are actively engaging in the rescue and excavation of Taohuawu wood engraving.The first chapter of this article described the continuity of traditional line drawing of Taohuawu wood engraving and its aesthetic flavor. The second chapter focused on the integration of western technique, the new features of Taohuawu wood engraving and its return to tradition. The third chapter concluded the reasons for the changes of heritage and development of line-drawing in Taohuawu wood engraving and the authors’ thoughts on its current state.