Shiwan Ceramic and Pottery Collecting Group Forum

The Life Like Characteristic of Shiwan Pottery Sculpture

Shiwan Wares, Exhibition Catalogue, Zhuang Jia
tinyurl.com/10i4f46u

When people come to talk about the art of Shiwan pottery sculpture of Shiwan, it is only natural that they should praise its lifelike characteristic. In South China, especially in the province of Guangdong, the natives cherish a deep affection for the Shiwan figurines in the same way as the Guangdong opera is sought after by the natives of Guangzhou. They regard the ceramic sculpture of Shiwan as a form of art which can represent our nationality, the masses of people and the local flavor. Thousands of years have gone and passed, the flower of Shiwan ceramic sculptural art has lived through its time, and passing on from generation to generation, Shiwan figurines have become a folk art which has won universal praise and love.

The art of Shiwan pottery sculpture appeared much later than the manufacture of local household ceramics. Nowadays preliminary diggings in the sites of ancient kilns around Damao Hill, Heyan and Qishi in Shiwan have proved that pottery wares have been produced in large quantities since the Tang Dynasty. But it was not until the Ming Dynasty that the pottery art had reached its maturity and attained some development. By the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the Shiwan pottery art had reached the golden age brimmed with a galaxy of artistic potters. From this time onwards, the art pottery have stirred up great admiration from people both in and outside China and they all love the lifelike characteristic of its art. The works are valued by museums and collectors all over the world and are sought for collection and display. How, indeed is this lifelike characteristic of Shiwan pottery sculpture being formed ?

The lifelike characteristic of Shiwan pottery sculpture is the result of generations of hard work in the sphere of art by the potters. It can not be separated from the fact that potters are placing great emphasis on absorbing fresh nourishment from real life during their practice of art. Besides, the potters effort in inheriting and carrying out the splendid cultural, and artistic traditions of our country. Their perseverance in sticking to the creative method of thinking in terms of images which combines realism and romanticism together also count for much.

It is because of the source that water keeps on running, it is because of the roots that trees flourish luxuriantly. In the same way only real life is the source of artistic and drawing on the splendid cultural heritage of the older generation for reference is the flow. With the source and the flow, the long stream of historical and artistic practice would surge forward, one generation after another.

The Shiwan potters of all generations all place great emphasis on absorbing fresh nourishment of artistic creation from the everyday scene. They regard imitation of Nature as the foremost pre-requisite of artistic creation. For a long time they have been living in a half industrial and half agricultural place like Shiwan town which is somewhat a city and a village. They can come  into contact with the life of the people directly. In fact the majority of the Shiwan potters are the laboring people. They therefore know clearly the likes and dislikes of the people, their yearnings and what they like to see and hear. When we open the door of the storehouse of Shiwan pottery sculptural art to have a look, we can at once perceive a strong local flavor. The many images in the postures of fishing, woodcutting, farming and reading are vivid and lifelike, with much varieties. These all due to the fact that the makers are all acquainted with this sort of life. They always merge the images of their own family members into their works. Their works are therefore true to life and have the power of touching people to the heart.

All through the ages the Shiwan potters have sculptured a large quantity of figures like "reader on ox back", Li Bai, Du Fu, Zhang Liang politely presenting the shoe, the seven wisemen of the Bamboo Grove etc. which reflect the yearning of the laboring people towards science and culture. They have also created a large number of heroic characters like Lu Zhishen, Li Kui, Su Wi, tending the sheep, the bearded hero and Li Jing, Wu Song fighting the tiger etc., who are all people dedicated to a just cause. They have also made a lot of Shiwan pottery oxen, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, dogs, cats and rabbits which reflect the love of the laboring people for their fruits of labor.  The range of subjects can be very wide, not necessarily confined to one area, even those figures of arhats and Buddha which artistic shapes have already been standardized and stylized a long time ago can be sculptured with an original touch of domestic flavor.

Why is this so? The simple fact is that everyday scene is at the back. "You have to use the contemporaries for reference before you can act the ancients".  This is the common artistic knack of the potters. The contemporary Shiwan potter Liu Chuan has created an object of art known as "abandoning the official rank in search of mother" before the Liberation, Shou Chang, the hero of the story kneels before his old mother, her soft and stuck up chin in which all the teeth have been shed, the many wrinkles on her face all combine to form a doddering and senile bearing.  This image seems familiar, how is it inspired? It turned out that she is the old woman living next door to Liu Chuan, Granny San. The sculptor has condensed and extracted an artistic image through this substantial image of a person. No wonder it is so lifelike and vivid, for it has its source.

As for the Shiwan ceramic figures of animals, they can also be said to be distinguished works of art. Most of them are excellent likenesses of their originals. Of them the most outstanding one is the traditional lion. This kind of Shiwan pottery work has been given the artistic image of personification by the masses of artisans. The lion looks neither like a lion nor like a dog, it has been personified. The many forms of the lion, some like laughing old men, some like naughty children, some like meditating elegant scholars, some like crude rough fellows are far more than mere symbols of Liu, Guan and Zhang. The movements of the lion too, also have much varieties. The ten movements in the fold lion dance, sleeping, awaking, displaying vigor, showing violence, demonstrating fierceness, steadying coaxing, stepping, eating and swallowing have all been fully expressed in it, so that when you look at it, you would be much amazed and delighted by its likeness in spirit. The above said has made one thing very clear, and that is lifelikeness comes from life. This is the first reason why Shiwan pottery sculpture is so lifelike.

The second reason is because the Shiwan potters who want to create lifelike works have not only paid attention to the imitation of Nature in real life, but they also place great emphasis on the imitation of the ancients. This means learning from our splendid cultural heritage. The inheriting of our splendid cultural artistic tradition should include these of all nationalities and all ages. But first of all we should learn from the distinguished cultural heritage of our own country and our own nationality, have a brilliant cultural heritage of over five thousand years. This is a very good reference for artistic creation, and lifelikeness is the common characteristic of the literature and art of our country. This distinguished tradition is reflected in the spheres of such artistic categories like literature, poetry, drama, folk, legends, traditional painting, crafts and art. The Shiwan pottery in history are placing great emphasis on an working hard to learn from the lifelike creative method of similar art forms.

The third reason is that the masses of Shiwan potters in history all insist on the method of creating images which combines realism and romanticism together. Although the Shiwan potters of older generation might not have know the above terms, practice proved that they were engaged in artistic creation in this way consciously and unconsciously. The real great artist must base on real materials synthesizing and creating from typical images of typical situations. Such process of creation can be termed as fabrication and thus the essence of artistic activities should also be romanticism. The artistic practice of Shiwan pottery sculpture in history is just like what Mr Guo has expounded. Although a minority of Shiwan potters have fallen into the set pattern of naturalistic artistic creation, the insistence on employing the creative method of thinking in terms of images which combines realism and romanticism together is still the main trend.

The traditional creative method of Shiwan ceramic places much emphasis on the observation and tacit memorizing of real life, i.e., the original of art. Through attentive observation, the many originals of life would be impressed, on the mind, then they are exaggerated an refined into an artistic model. This creative method of thinking in terms of images is our habitual practice.

During the long years of artistic practice, the Shiwan potters have accumulated quite a wealth of valuable creative experiences. These experiences are the good recipes of making lifelike pottery sculptures. Among them is the method of artistic exaggeration used in extracting images, exaggerate from the realistic basis without overdoing it.  There are four principles of exaggeration.

It should abide by the real object intended
It should abide by the need of the theme
It should abide by the sense of beauty
It should abide by the demand of visual sense

There are pithy formulas that summarize the common points of the artistic images

Scholars are tall and military men are short.
Heroes have no necks and beauties have no shoulders.
Heroic character, he should be seven chi tall, has a square face which is thick skinned and regular features which are well chisseled.

For a man of letters

High eye brows
Broad forehead and front
Prominent forehead and cheek bones

For a negative character

Triangular face
Narrow forehead
Curly hair
Bridged nose
Thin lips
Pale complexion and bulky cheeks

For grasping the artistic plot to build up a climax and to shape artistic which give on much food for thought, there are formulas like, more fitting to initiate than to suspend, more fitting to be subtle than to be plain. There are formulas which are used for employing art to express the pattern of contrast and harmony, such as a grain of impidness in a mass turbidness, a grain of turbidness in an expense of limpidness ( which means a face should not be all ugly or all beautiful ) and strange but not absurd, ugly but not repulsive. There are three ways in portraying typical images figuratively.

To establish a proper ratio
To highlight the emphasis
To pay more effort in featuring

All in all, there are ample experiences in the molding of lifelike Shiwan pottery sculptures in the Shiwan tradition, and all these creative experiences are centered around a common goal, to make the works lifelike.