Shadow Art School and Collection

The shadow play, that is, the leather art characters, animals and plants, and the various plane art images of the sceneries. Shadow play is a tool for performing shadow play, and it is also a folk art product with high aesthetic value that can be enjoyed independently.

The shadow puppets were originally carved with thick paper. Afterwards, commonly used donkeyskin, cowhide or sheepskin, were shaved and shaved. They were designed according to the needs of the characters and lining scenes, and were completed through carving, coloring, ironing, binding, and covering oil. The style is similar to public opinion paper cutting. In the Southern Song Dynasty, “Dongcheng Hongsheng”, a “resistance actor”, said: “Every movie is a masterpiece carved from plain paper at the beginning of the capital of the capital. After that, it is colored and loaded.” That is a card. Shadowgraphers are usually about two feet tall, but joints such as hands, arms, waist, and legs are separately carved and lined together, so that they can move freely during performances. Shadow heads are carved alone and can be replaced with shadows. Shadow carving is a special skill, which requires exquisite and colorful characters that portray characters with various personality characteristics. The main focus is on exaggerating people's eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth and beard. With colors of red, green, blue, and ink, each color is sub-divided into shallow and deep layers. Wenwu niche, Dan horn, white net, and other performers with white faces use openwork; blackheads, red nets, and flower faces, etc., are all semi-engraved. Since the projection performance is performed on a flat screen, only the left and right movements are performed. Therefore, the shadow personages are mostly profiled.

The shadow play is an ancient Chinese opera species. Also known as "shadow play", "shadow play", "luck shadow," "skin", "paper shadow", "light shadow play", "skin monkey", "Cangzhou shadow" and so on. The shadow play mainly consists of the manipulation of the signer by the shadows, the light transmission, the reflection on the screen, and the performance of the musical instrument and the aria. Commonly known as "a mouthful of Syria back to the ages, hands dance to millions of soldiers."

The history of the shadow play can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty, when Han Wudi died because of his beloved Mrs. Li. "Han Shu Wai Qi Chuan" contains: "There are people who are affiliated with Qi and few people can speak to their gods. It is a lamp with a lamplight in the night. It is set up with credits, wine and flesh, and it is placed on his account. Looking forward to seeing the appearance of a good lady, Mrs. Li, Sit and take a step." From the description of the image of Mrs. Li may be a silhouette form, lights and candles, credit, seems to have had the prototype of the shadow play. However, the real shadow play appeared and flourished during the Northern Song Dynasty. In Song Mengyuan’s “Tokyo Dream Hualu”, there were “shadows” in the variety of operas performed in the entertainment venues in the Song Dynasty in the Northern Song Dynasty, and there were famous movie artists Dong Shiwu, Zhao Qi, and Cao Baoyi. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the “Old History of Martial Arts” was published. At that time, the party, government, and military forces had a special movie show organization called “Emergency Culture”. In the Yuan Dynasty, shadow play was also performed as a recreational activity in the military. The shadow play was greatly developed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Different artistic styles and schools appeared throughout the country. China is the hometown of shadow play. As early as the 13th century, during the Southern Dynasties Ningzong Jiading period, the shadow play was spread to Burma, Siam, Java and other places. In the middle of the 14th century, it was transmitted to Persia, Arabia and Turkey. The 15th century Ming Chenghuan was introduced into Egypt. At the beginning of the 17th century, it was introduced into Turkey during the Ming Dynasty. In the 18th century, Western Catholic missionaries introduced the Chinese shadow play to France and spread it to England and Germany. Its performance had a sensation in Europe. In the thirty-ninth year of the Qing Dynasty (1774) of the Qing Dynasty, the German great poet, Goethe, introduced the Chinese shadow play at the Welan expo. In 1781, he also hosted the performance of a shadow play with a German story.

Due to the differences in raw materials, shapes, styles, singing tunes, and popular regions, shadows and shadow plays have formed many categories and genres after thousands of years of spread and evolution. Among them, shades of leather in Shaanxi and Qixian in Hebei have been formed. Donkey shadow is the most representative.

Shaanxi Shadow Play has a long history. Some scholars believe that Shaanxi is the birthplace of Chinese movie theater. There are folk songs for their corroboration: “Hansong embraces her child before the window, cleverly cut Tong Ye as the screen sash, Wendi administers national security, and rituals are introduced into the homes of the people.” Shaanxi Shadowplay enjoys a reputation during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many materials indicate Tangshan shadows. The origins and development of Beijing Shadowgraph, Beijing Shadowplay, Shanxi Shadowplay, Sichuan Shadowplay, and Northeast Shadow Shadow are all related to shadow shadow in Shaanxi. Shaanxi Yingying East Road and West Road. East Road (including Xianyang to Donghua County, Huayin, Pucheng, Daxie, and Weinan counties) is meticulously detailed, tightly decorated, and meticulously crafted. The filmmakers are small and are about 9 inches high. Sheng Dan facial modeling forehead prominent, delicate nose, mouth shape is very small. West Road (west of Xianyang to Baoji area) has powerful shapes, simple decoration, simple and natural appearance, 12-inch high-impact shadows, deep-bodied eyes with many round faces, and a wide range of noses. There are many roles in the Shaanxi Shadow Play. There are as many as three or four hundred kinds of heads and bodies in the East Road. There are also more than one hundred kinds in the West Road. East Road artist's head bag, according to its Wen Wusheng, Wenwu Dan, generals, official hats, immortal heads, demons, such as more than ten sub-fan. In addition, there are linting King Longtingbaodian, barracks tiger account, the government's first, embroidered house pavilion, heaven hell, fairy caves, pontoon bridge scenery ... and so on, from which you can see the rich content of Shaanxi shadow. Shaanxi Pi Ying's modeling and sculpture skills are superb, forming a unique system, the crown of the country.

Hebei Yingzhou Shadow Play, refers to the popular movie artists in Hebei and Northeast China. Because it was first established in Leting County, Hebei Province, it is now in the Tangshan area. It is also known as "Lating Shadow" and "Tangshan Shadow Shadow." Regarding the history of the Luzhou movie show, it was introduced in the middle of the Ming Dynasty from Lanzhou and Huating in Gansu Province. It was explained that the twenty-one year of Wanli (1593 AD) was first created by Anzhen Zhuang Xiucai Huang Zhenzhong, and was based on the “Publication”. Until about 20 years after the Qing Emperor Guangxu, the movie also called the "Shang Juan." Luzhou movie has spread to Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and other places, and has a great influence. Luzhou movie people are mainly made of donkey skin. Its style is represented by the Beijing Dongpai shadow. When it flourishes, most people use Beijing's shadow shadow, also known as “Chuzhou Shadow”, to exaggerate their facial features, face outline lines, strong decorative features, and bright colors. There is a set of stylized processing methods.

Beijing Shadowplay began in the early Qing Dynasty and was divided into two groups. One group came from Zhangzhou, most of them lived in Dongcheng, and called the Dongcheng School (abbreviated as the East School). One group came from Zhangzhou, and most of the Banshes lived in Xicheng, claiming the Xicheng School ( Referred to the West School). At that time, the East Side sent the "Chuzhou Films" to the most prosperous state. According to the records of the Qing Tongzhi years, only one of the 20 theaters in Beijing, only the "Heshun Club" in the Shicheng Maojiawan was the Western School. In the field. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the East School declined and the West School developed. Among them, the Lushi “Heshun Class” was the successor. Xipai people are dressed in ancient costumes; Dongpai Dan is full of fashion, and the first portrait is very particular about. For example, Qianlong and Jiaqing's "Yuan Baochao", Daoguang, and Xianfeng combed the "gone with the wind" and so on, so that people can see what the product is. Dongpian shadows are all through the nose and mouth, and basically retain the style of the Shaanxi West Road and the Gansu East Road. The facial features are exaggerated and the decoration is strong. The Western pied shadow is finely carved, emphasizing the characteristics of different characters, rewriting reality, and no fixed program. The two factions were all made of donkey skins, which were as high as 78 square inches, and the early shadows were as high as 1 foot and a half. The rapid development of Beijing Shadow Play has its unique conditions for Kyoto. It is not only welcomed by urban residents, but also enjoyed by the royal palace. During the Qing dynasty, during the Chinese New Year and festive days, the palace and the palace passed the shadow-shadow classes to the inner house, where they could be watched by the king and the princes. Each of the palaces also funded their own shadow box screen and hired famous artists to perform for them for a long time. At the same time, some royals and aristocrats not only participated in the singing themselves, but also personally designed and sculpted the artists. For example, during the Daoguang aristocrat Yuzi An, he once served as a garrison in Wuchang Prefecture, Hubei Province. In a three-year term, he engraved a box of Beijing Xipai Shadows. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the nobleman Dai Guangchen played a role in mimicking the stage performances of Beijing Opera. He is a treasure of the existing Beijing Shadow Art. The princes in the "Prince Lee" House are now mostly hidden in museums in the United States, Germany, and Sweden. The characteristics of modern Beijing shadow play art are: Pursue the real stage of the hair, and use the eye-hanging and hanging eyebrows to interpret the image of Tsing Yi and Sheng Jiao to make it more personal. Lines engraved with flowing water, soft, stretch.

In addition, the main schools that have a greater impact are the Shanxi Shadow Play, Sichuan Shadow Play, Jidong Shadow Play, and Hubei Shadow Play.

Shadow art is a purely folk folk art with a long history, rich content, roots in China, and overseas influence. Therefore, for thousands of years, it has been a long time and the shadow play has become the main collection of the people. Many museums in the world now have precious Chinese early shadows. The Shadow Museum in West Offenbach City specializes in the collection of over 3,250 shadow artifacts in China. There are three types of film size: 6-inch, 9-inch, and 1.3-foot. From this we can see the history of the development of our shadow play. Some of the earliest small-sized work with the art form of shadow puppets in the Ming Dynasty or earlier was difficult to see in our country, but it is well preserved here. These collections were bought by the founder of the museum Berhardt from Beijing in 1930 through the owner of a small antique shop in Berlin.

Yang Fei and Li Shuwen from Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, have been engaged in the carving and singing of Shaanxi Shadow Play for several decades. They not only perform well, but they also devoted their lives to the collection of more than 3,000 fine shadow products from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. More than one volume. The couple also retained their talents, researched and accomplished, not only edited and published a large-scale shadow collection, but was often invited to study abroad and give lectures. In recent years, the couple has also created a kind of “piano film painting” that is finely detailed, elegant, elegant, and elegant. It has become a favorite and cherished museum and collector at home and abroad.