Paper In Chinese Traditional Watermark Prints—the Choice Of Paper For Color Prints

Chinese traditional woodblock printing originally served as illustrations in books of religion,education,literature,science,medicine etc.It was affected by many elements on its way of development.The emergence of painting tools has led to the birth of Chinese traditional woodblock painting.With the help of white,smooth and tenacious paper,the artistic creation was therefore made towards a more diversified direction.Influenced directly by Chinese calligraphy and painting,Chinese woodblock painting evolved from black lines to one block with colors and finally to different blocks with multiple colors.Tools also have been improved greatly with the development of the printmaking,giving artists more inspirations.The interaction between paper and printing techniques altogether pushes forward the development of Chinese traditional woodblock printing.The paper consists of two parts.First part presents woodblock prints in history and the development of paper.The second part experiments with different kinds of paper using different kinds of inks.On the basis of understanding and using different papers,we can grasp its effects produced by the interaction with ink.