Introduction by Iris Wachs and Chang Tsong-zung

The prints in this exhibition have been assembled to enable visitors to appreciate the beauty of a movement little known outside of China. In China, however, woodblock printmaking is an honored medium with an honored past. Since the 1930s talented young artists have had special encouragment to become woodblock printmakers. The artists whose works are represented in the exhibition are famous in their own country, where their originality and creative powers have long been recognized. Viewers outside of China can now discover the rich, variegated styles, both regional and personal, that they have created. Chang Tsong-zung's decision to include modern nianhua (New Year's prints), produced in traditional woodblock-printing studios, adds an important dimension to the exhibition. When shown in the past, nianhua have been presented solely in the context of folk, or popular, art, without reference to their role in the general development of the Chinese woodblock print. They are, however, an integral part of that development-influenced and influencing it-and their inclusion in the exhibition illuminates this inter-relationship. Because works in the exhibition created before 1980 were intended to function as propaganda as well as art, the catalogue has endeavored to explain them against the sociological/historical background from which they emerged. Chinese viewers are accustomed to "reading" a picture for its meanings: the symbolism of the pictorial elements in the prints was apparent and of interest to the public for which it was created because they were aware of current national concerns. The essays are intended to recreate that milieu for the reader. Style as well as content was affected by historical events. When the Creative Print Movement began in 1931 (the date assigned by Chinese art historians), it adopted print styles and techniques from Europe-particularly those associated with expressionist social protest art and Soviet art-that had no precedents in China (although the Chinese had invented and developed woodblock printing long before it was known in the West). Over time, however, Chinese art antecedents were reintroduced as an affirmation of national identity. The different effects achieved by combining Chinese and Western art elements-quite fascinating as an art-historical subject in itself-are evident in the prints and discussed in the catalogue. It is hoped that the background information provided by the catalogue will give the exhibition visitor a broad understanding and appreciation of the works, but above all, it is hoped that the viewer will enjoy them as works of art.