Serial Activities of the 3rd “Shanghai Library’s Woodcut Day” Begin
| To commemorate the 80th anniversary of Mr. Lu Xun’s death and the 135th anniversary of his birth, the serial activities of the 3rd “Shanghai Library’s Woodcut Day” formally began in the morning of August 17. More than 100 representatives from the local cultural circles and libraries attended the opening ceremony. At the opening ceremony, three famous woodcut artists, namely, Ni Jianming, Yang Zhongyi, and Zhang Yang, donated their woodcuts and exlibris to the Hall of China Cultural Celebrities’ Manuscripts under Shanghai Library. Mr. Chen Chao, deputy director of Shanghai Library, issued to the artists the certificate of donation and “Magic Hand” contribution award, and announced the list of award-winners in 2016 Shanghai Library’s Woodcut Collection Award. Shanghai Library gave a collection of woodcut works to representatives of the reader. Mr. Ye Ruqiang, secretary of the Party committee of Shanghai Library, delivered a speech, expressing Shanghai Library’s sincere gratitude to the three artists for their donations, and stressing the woodcut art initiated by Mr. Lu Xun as an important root of Shanghai urban culture, and that Shanghai Library will continue with woodcut collection. From Aug. 17 to 22, 1931, Mr. Lu Xun organized in Shanghai a woodcut workshop to advocate woodcut art, thus starting an era of China’s modern woodcut art. As the birthplace of China’s modern woodcut art, Shanghai has played an important role in Chinese art history. In 2014, Shanghai Library and Shanghai Artists Association Woodcut Art Committee decided to carry out woodcut exhibition, production, demonstration, and publicity on August 17 of every year in the name of “Shanghai Library’s Woodcut Day”, aiming to deepen Shanghai Library’s woodcut collection, bring into full play the interactive functions of library as a public cultural space, actively advocate and participate in construction of Shanghai urban culture, shape Shanghai’s contemporary art, promote woodcut creation in Shanghai, and popularize woodcut art among local people. The serial activities of “Shanghai Library’s Woodcut Day” include two woodcut exhibitions respectively entitled “Carved Paintings: An Exhibition on Ni Jianming’s Woodcut Works” and “2016 Exhibition on Woodcut Works Collected by Shanghai Library”, two exlibris exhibitions respectively entitled “Pets in Study - An Exhibition on Yang Zhongyi and Zhang Yang’s Exlibris” and “Fragrance of Books in a Small Space - An Exhibition on Xu Hongxing’s Exlibris” (to be held at Jing’an District Library), a seminar on woodcut art, and launch of three picture albums on woodcuts and exlibris at Shanghai Library. In the afternoon of the Woodcut Day, 20 woodcut artists in Shanghai demonstrated woodcut exlibris at No. 2 Exhibition Hall of Shanghai Library. The artists and the reader communicated with each other on the spot; the reader experienced the charm of woodcut art, and gained knowledge about woodcut art. |