Auspicious prints to greet our future
New Year woodblock exhibition at the Capital Museum explores past and present, Fang Aiqing reports.
Co-organized by the Capital Museum, the Tianjin Museum, and the Hebei Museum, as well as the museum for New Year woodblock prints in Wuqiang county, Hebei's Hengshui, more than 120 sets of images produced since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) are on display.
Highlights include a pair of prints from the collection of the National Library of China that feature door gods Shenshu and Yulyu, imposing figures and clad in armor, both of whom hold a golden hammer on which their names are inscribed.
Shenshu has a kind face, whereas Yulyu is fierce, his eyes wide open. They are depicted in a simple and robust style of firm lines and heavy colors — mostly bright red, yellow and green — and according to Sun, exemplify the typical Beijing style of door-god paintings.
Another image is of a bustling Spring Festival temple fair in Qing Dynasty Beijing, which captures the architecture style and urban life of the capital at the time, with crowds lingering at stalls, strolling around, and riding in carriages or rickshaws.
