Feng Jicai Institute held a special lecture on New Year painting research "Victory Picture: From Copperplate to Woodblock to Lithography"
On November 1, 2024, at the invitation of the Chinese Woodblock New Year Painting Research Center of Tianjin University, Professor James Flath of Western University in London, Ontario, Canada gave an academic lecture titled "Victory Picture: From Copperplate to Woodblock to Lithography" to teachers and students of Tianjin University. Teachers and students of related majors from sister colleges attended the lecture.
Before the lecture, Professor Flath visited the New Year paintings exhibition hall of Tiaolongmen Folk Art Museum of our institute, learned about the New Year paintings in the collection, the production and use of scenes of New Year paintings, the literature and related achievements, and exchanged views on various topics of interest. Professor Flath paid special attention to the important role of Chinese woodblock New Year paintings in social education and cultural communication from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. During the exchange, he pointed out that this type of New Year paintings revealed how New Year paintings became a carrier of intellectuals' and national propaganda positions, as well as their functions in folk beliefs and daily life.
The lecture was hosted by Associate Professor Tang Na, Secretary General of the China Woodblock New Year Painting Research Center. Professor James Flath started with the tradition of war visualization that began in the Qianlong period of the 18th century, and elaborated on how victory paintings moved from court art to popular culture. Professor Flath pointed out that these works were not simply the result of Western influence or the natural development of Chinese painting style, but a unique war narrative and archetype. He particularly mentioned the color prints of the hermits in Meizhou, which depicted the battles of the Sino-French War and showed the confrontation between the Qing army and the French army. In terms of technology and expression, these works are more rugged and rustic than the court copperplate prints, and their bright colors and dramatic scenes are more attractive.
The lecture further discussed the spread of lithography in China, especially how the Shanghai lithography industry affected the expression of war narratives. Professor Flath analyzed the differences in technology and expression between woodcuts and lithography, and how these differences were reflected in war narratives. At the end of the lecture, Professor James Flath put forward profound theoretical views on modernity and social imagination. New technologies and new perspectives have given people unprecedented ability to construct global imaginations from the perspective of the relationship between self and others, and these relationships have been effectively absorbed and internalized in people's works. Professor Flath ended the lecture with the local nature of global imagination.
During the Q&A session of the lecture, the participants had an in-depth exchange on the content of the lecture, and further explored the historical construction of New Year paintings as visual materials, the perspective of overseas research, and the deep cultural significance. Professor Flath emphasized the complexity of exploring the path of cultural communication. At the end of the lecture, Secretary-General Donna encouraged the students to cross disciplinary barriers in their research, maintain their interest in the world of New Year paintings, and look forward to future academic cooperation between Professor Flath and the college.
Mr. Feng Jicai said in his speech at the Second International Forum on Chinese Woodblock New Year Pictures: "Once New Year pictures become the world's intangible cultural heritage, they belong not only to China, but also to the world and to mankind. International cooperation in the study of Chinese woodblock New Year pictures has begun. I hope that experts at home and abroad will unite and do more solid work to contribute to the study and promotion of New Year pictures." This lecture provides a new perspective to understand the cultural significance of Chinese war New Year pictures, and also brings new research ideas and methods to the field of New Year picture research. The China Woodblock New Year Picture Research Center will continue to serve as an important academic platform for New Year picture research, accept visits from domestic and foreign scholars, and promote further international exchanges and cooperation.
Character Links
James Flath is a professor of history at Western University, Canada, and a PhD from the University of British Columbia. Professor Flath has made many contributions to the research of Chinese folk prints, Confucian temples, monuments, local folklore, and other fields, and has published many papers and monographs. His representative work, The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art and History in Rural North China (UBC Press, 2004), won the Raymond Klibansky Prize for Best Humanities Academic Achievement in 2005-2006.
The original version of this article is in Simplified Chinese. This accounts for potential variability in the translations to English, or other languages, from the primary source.