.....All about paper, art paper, paper cutting, paper cuts and the paper cut art.

Introduction to art paper.

Paper cutting finds its origin in CHINA sometime after the invention of paper around the years 100 BC. Paper cutting came as a natural extension of leather sheet cutting and silver or copper foil cutting. We know, from archeology excavations, that such art was already practiced during the 5th century BC.
As paper was highly precious in its early days, the paper cut art first became popular in the royal palaces and houses of nobility where it became a favorite pastime among court ladies. Later on paper cutting became immensely popular during folk festivals. By the 12-13th century and onward, paper cut art had become an integral part of all Chinese people's daily lives and by the 14th century the art had spread to the Middle East and Europe.
Paper cut art was used in interior decorating, as decoration items on walls as well as in windows. It was also used as patterns, especially for embroidery and lacquer work. 
There are two methods to realize a paper cut: scissor cutting and knife cutting. In scissor cuttings several sheets of rice-paper, up to seven, are layered together. The motif is then cut with sharp, pointed scissors. Knife cuttings are fashioned by putting several layers of rice-paper on a relatively soft foundation. The advantage of knife paper cutting is that considerably more cuttings can be made in one operation than with scissor cutting. Paper cutting used to be one of the arts and crafts that every girl had to master and brides were once judged on their paper cutting virtuosity. Nowadays, paper cuts are realized by professional artists, often men working together in workshops.
Paper cuts were thus an important part of Chinese arts all along the last 2000 years of the far longer history of their civilization. History shows that along the last 6-700 years this craft has been closely associated to people's yearning for decorating all aspects of their daily lives. Paper cutting became popular because the practice is easy to master by anybody and the instruments and materials involved are simple and cheap and its uses in decoration remained thus popular. This is also why the craft has not fallen into oblivion along its more than 2000 years of history.

The paper cut art as a craft for interior decorating has a long history.

Proofs abound of the existence of a cutting technique well before the invention of paper.
Leather cutting sheets have been unearthed in 1966 in HUBEI Province from a tomb dating from the Warring States Period, 476-422 bc. In 1952, a silver foil cutting from the same period has been unearthed from a site in HENAN Province (see picture 1). Those discoveries are testimony that this art predated the invention of paper. But when exactly did the cutting technique originate remains largely a mystery. China's early history is very badly known, only by the end of the nineteen nineties were archeology studies being undertaken systematically. It is thus expected that our knowledge of the history of the early days of the Chinese civilization will progress rapidly and the origins of the paper cutting technique could then eventually be revealed.





History remembers Cai LUN as the inventor of paper. The cutting arts having been practiced well before the invention of paper, it is assumed that paper cutting started just after the invention of paper some 100 years before JC. The earliest paper cuts that have been found so far come from the Northern Dynasties Period (386-581 ad). They were unearthed near the city of Turpan in XINJIANG Province. The dry and hot weather conditions of that area are the reason of their very good preservation. (see pictures 2, 3, 4, 5)

The paper cut art as a craft for interior decoration

1.  Used in interior decorating: windows.
The use of glass in windows is relatively recent. The tradition in China, as in Japan, was to glue thin rice-paper over the overtures of the windows during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). Artists' paper cuts were then pasted on this rice-paper thus offering starkly contrasted pictures with the natural outdoor light.

2.  Used in interior decorating: walls.
In North China, people like to paste paper cuts on their walls, calling them “wall flowers”. In South China, people prefer to paste them on pillars and lintels to avoid the high humidity of walls that is a deadly enemy of paper.

3.  Used in interior decorating: ceilings.

4.  Used as lantern decoration: Lantern festival is a traditional Chinese festival taking place in the first month of the lunar calendar when various kinds of lanterns are on show. Pasted on the lanterns paper cut art figures look like slide shows under the lamplight.

5.  Used in interior decorating: doors.
Pasted on the sides of doors, the designs represent auspicious welcoming words or patterns.

6.  Other uses:
While the above mentioned interior decorating uses are by far the most popular ones, the artists' works are also sometimes used on wedding cloth, on presents, on shoes, on pillows, on cuffs and even, believe it or not, on under-garments.

Instruments and material

The best quality paper for monochromatic paper cuts is the red dyed Xuanpaper, a red dyed rice-paper popular all over China. Multicolor ones are generally made out of various dyed Xuanpaper (rice-paper) or Fenlianpaper, a silk mounted Xuanpaper.

The instruments used in paper cut art are scissors and cutters. Scissors are the main tool, any scissor bought from the market is suitable as long as it is light in weight and has thin and even points and sharp blades.

The paper cutting process

It consists inf the following steps:

1.  Composition:
The starting point is the drawing of the pattern.

2.  Paper cutting or engraving.

3.  Mending:
Sometimes there are wrong cuts or broken parts. In principle all paper cuts with broken parts or wrong cuts have to be discarded. In practice, a cut is discarded only when the broken part is large. When the damage is small, the damaged part is cut out and replaced with a newly cut part.

4.  Preservation:
Paper cuts are pasted on a flat paper base for long term conservation.

5.  Reproduction:
Paper cuts were always coming in multiples, they were indeed reproduced without end and the best graphics were transmitted from generation to generation down history.

About the preservation of paper cuts

Paper cuts are fragile collectibles. They should thus be mounted with the uttermost care. Practically the only serious way to mount one of those collectibles is to frame it behind a protective glass. Multicolor ones should be protected from sun light in order to avoid color fading. If you wish to preserve your collectibles for eternity or for your grand-children, you should place them between sheets of, acid-free, white paper and place them on a horizontal support in a dry environment and out of any light source.

Characteristics of the paper cut art..

1.  Every part of a paper cut must be connected, its picture is formed of connected lines. ZHANG Yongzhou, a well-known artisan from YANGZHOU, summarized the cutting of lines in five words: circular, sharp, square, deficient and thin. It means that the lines must be as round as a full moon, as sharp as a fine blade, as square as a brick as deficient as saw-teeth and as thin as human hair. In the process of cutting out the negative of the pattern with scissors or cutters, all lines of the remaining positive must remain connected to each other. Being considered as collectibles, if some lines in the positive are cut off, the cut has to be discarded by the contemporary artist.

2.  The design of paper cuts is made of black and white lines and forms. They are thus in essence two dimensional visual representations for decoration use.

3.  Monochromatic or multi-chromatic

Themes

Folk paper cut art has a wide range of themes that can be divided into the following categories:

1.  Daily life scenes:
Paper cutting was mostly realized by women in the countryside so the themes are naturally reflecting their everyday lives: raising children, chicken and pigs, herding sheep and cattle, driving mule carts, nursing babies, executing tasks in the fields, observing the richness of the plants, fruits, birds and animals in nature.

2.  Hopes and wishes:
Having a bumper harvest, having a surplus every year, golden pheasant standing erect, carp leaping through the dragon gate, ...

3.  Legends and theater characters:
Artists usually pick their themes from the legends of their history or from the popular dramas in their native areas. In ZHEJIANG Province, the home of Shaoxing Opera, people like to depict opera characters as LIANG Shanbo, The White Snake, A dream of red mansion, ... In BEIJING the painted faces of Beijing Opera are a main theme.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.  "The art of Chinese folk paper cut" ZHANG Shuxian. CHINA TODAY PRESS
2.  "The folk arts" in "Complete works of fine arts" LI Cunsong and WANG Shucun. PEOPLE's FINE ARTS PUBLISHING HOUSE.
3.  "An album of Northwest paper cut" AI Qing and JIANG Feng. SHANGHAI CHENGUANG PUBLISHING COMPANY.
4.  "Chinese folk paper cuts" ZHANG Daoyi. JINLING CALLIGRAPHY AND PAINTING PRESS (Chinese edition)
5.  "YAN'AN paper cuts" JIANG Feng and JIN Zhilin. PEOPLE's FINE ARTS PUBLISHING HOUSE (Chinese edition)
6.  "Methods and techniques of paper cutting and engraving" CI Xu (Chinese edition)
7.  "Folk paper cuts from SHANDONG Province" SHANDONG POPULAR ARTS CENTER. (Chinese edition)
8.  "Chinese folk paper cuts" PEOPLE's FINE ARTS PUBLISHING HOUSE. (Chinese edition)
9.  "Let a hundred flowers bloom" JIANGSU LITERATURE AND ARTS PRESS. (Chinese edition)

The contemporary paper cut art.

I believe that the paper cut technique offers a rich avenue for all to express themselves and I wish that paper cut art would be adopted largely as a new mode of graphic expression. The inescapable rigor and focus that are necessary to express oneself in this art are indeed the greatest richness that can be bestowed upon an individual. What better testimony of this richness than a rich collection of modern paper cut art works for interior decorating? Or as Beatrice Coron writes: "Take a piece of paper: a perfect support for an image. Cut or draw or paint or print or use all techniques to produce an image. Then fold the paper. You now have a book, or a sculpture, or an animation. Paper includes support, movement, interaction.."

A stark differentiation distinguishes the contemporary works realized in the West and those that are been realized in China.

In one word Westerners generally adapt all the techniques they experiment to the spirit of modernity that sustains contemporary western culture. In contrast Chinese culture remains still largely dominated by rural life. This distinction in terms of the cultural environment where the contemporary paper cut art is practiced, I believe, is exacerbated by the fact that the creators, the creatives, in the West are largely educated people while in China the craft is mostly exercised by rural folks. Chinese urbanites are indeed rejecting the craft, for, it reflects on the traditions of the country while they are engaged in a wild expansion of modernity in the cities. This is a generalization for sure. As in Europe and the States, at a given stage of industrialization when parents yearn for a higher education for their kids some of those kids feel the urge to make a cultural u-turn to rediscover their roots and the traditions of their ancestors. The same is starting to appear in the cities of China: local cuisines start to be popular in Beijing, Beijing Opera makes a come-back and the price of paper cuts. when available, are shooting to the roof. A further stage of societal evolution will draw Chinese creative urbanites to rediscover the paper cutting craft and inspired by Western creators they shall engage in modern style creations...

I spent a lot of time trying to sift the stuff of interest being crafted nowadays from the abysmal mass of insignificance that litters the web. I'm happy to share the links to the sites I find of interest on the following page modern paper cuts.

Enjoy the surfing on the waves of this art of paper cutting.
I always appreciate a comment on our forum. This helps me to eventually correct my presentation.


Laodan