王依虹

过完了农历新年，不少人表示，热闹是表象，内里似乎还缺了点什么意蕴——至少在城市里如此。于是，有人说，你的年味只差一纸年画。细想想，也许有一定道理。

中国农历，本就是反映农时之历，如今农业社会的方方面面早已渐行渐远，与之相适应的根基在深刻变化，文化的内容也自然在淡化。

以前过年，家家户户都更换年画、春联，现在张挂者已经不多，有青少年甚至不知道年画为何物。为展示年画的独特艺术和作用、价值，即对中国传统节庆文化的积极传承，农历丁酉新年（2017），绍兴兰亭书法博物馆与杭州西湖博物馆联合举办了中国木板年画精品展。

大都用于新年的年画，起源于汉代，为中国民间艺术之一，是农村老百姓喜闻乐见的艺术形式。

两宋时期，汴京（今河南开封）和临安（今浙江杭州）的岁末，年画市场火热，孟元老《东京梦华录》和周密《武林旧事》分别记载了当时的景况。

中原的开封朱仙镇年画被视为中国年画发展的“鼻祖”，内容多反映中原传统民俗文化，艺术上体现了京都文化与市井文化并存的较精细的主流风格与粗犷甚至比较粗糙的传统风格。后者的乡土味道影响了整个北方年画。

天津杨柳青年画是北方年画的代表，崛起于明代，鼎盛于清代。杨柳青年画题材广泛，包括传统的“仕女”“诸神”等，其中“娃娃”是“形象担当”；采用木版套印和手工彩绘结合的特色手法，刻工精美、绘制细腻、色彩绚丽。“杨柳青青似画中，家家绣女竟衣红。丹青百幅千般景，都在新年壁上逢。”它被公推为中国年画之首。

在江南，以杭州为中心的年画，融会了吴越文化的精秀细巧，直接传播至苏州、无锡等地区。明清时期，苏州桃花坞一带是江南年画中心。它的一大特点是，以故事性内容为主，出现了描绘景物和现实生活的作品。借鉴了明成化皇帝所创的《一团和气图》的“一团和气”，是桃花坞年画中最具特色的代表作之一，此外还有许多宏构巨作的立幅。它与杨柳青年画有明显不同的风格和技巧，人称“南桃北杨”。

潍坊杨家埠年画属于北方年画系列，兴起于明代，晚清兴极一时，当时有“画店百家，年画千种，画版数万”之说。杨家埠年画以农村炕头画为代表，内容丰富，“巧画士农工商，妙绘财神菩萨，尽收天下大事，兼图里巷所闻，不分南北风情，也画古今逸事”，艺术上颇具特色：线条粗放，造型简括，色彩强烈。

西南地区的绵竹年画从宋代起流行，其品种以门神、门童形式最富有变化。它在制作上以画工勾染为主，即只用墨线印出画样后，即以手工描绘，这与其他各地年画都用色版套印完全不同。绵竹年画还用捺印法，即在添补金色团花时，将花样刻成图章型，捺印在画面上。

农历新年是中国最盛大的节庆，从文化的角度看，年画在中华文化圈的流播影响，最为广泛、最为深远，远涉日本、朝鲜、越南、缅甸以及印度等国。除上述五大“中国民间木板年画中心”外，陕西凤翔、福建泉州、广东佛山以及浙江、安徽、湖南、贵州均有年画产地。这次在绍兴兰亭书法博物馆举办的年画展，集合了全国不同地域、不同风格的年画共一百幅，让人们感受历史曾经有过的辉煌灿烂。

年画作为人们过年的必备品，不仅是一種喜庆的五彩缤纷的点缀，而且体现了实用性——文化流通、道德教育、审美传播、信仰承续的作用。

年画从“形”到“意”价值不菲。首先，传达了相当的审美情趣。年画构图饱满，严密均匀，留白处少；图像大都显得夸张，满足了喜庆效果；用色以红、青、黄、白、黑五大“正色”为主，大胆厚重，对比强烈。这些都是人们对于美好事物的憧憬。

其次，具备有很大的教育价值。吉祥是中国人过年的永恒概念，历史故事、戏曲故事、民间故事都是年画常见的题材。年画销量大、受众广，这些故事能够得以广泛的传播，从中学习道德观念、历史人文、风俗人情等，起到普及和教育的作用。年画用画面讲述，更为直接明了，让人更容易接受。

再者，承载着一定的文献资料意义。年画内容涉及历史、宗教、神话、戏曲和自然地理、生活习俗等，具有准确的地域性和时代性，记录了各种人文信息：真实的心理写照和情感向往，可以作历史的参证。

传统的年画的制作包括手工绘制、雕版、套色水印。因历史的原因，从上世纪三四十年代起，年画市场已经逐渐退化、甚至没落，有着传统技艺的匠人在慢慢消逝。现在，部分留存品体现着它的经济价值。作为最有地方特色，直接、生动地反映民俗文化的艺术品，年画可以作为礼品、藏品。

一个多月的展出时间，中国木板年画精品展近日落下帷幕。我们在感叹中国传统民间文化流失的同时，希冀年画在“没落”中“重生”。绍兴兰亭书法博物馆把年画制作工具带进展览中，让参观者亲手制作，体验年画的生产过程；为小参观者准备了DIY填色，发挥自己的各种想象，用蜡笔、彩色笔为年画配色；年画拼图让参观者们在玩乐中记住不同地域的年画。通过赏年画、做年画，重新体验年画的审美情趣、教育价值、文献资料意义，让年画“重生”。

近年，具有浓郁乡土气息与地方特色的各地年画的制作技艺，先后被列入世界、国家、省、市非物质文化遗产代表名录。形式的保留，也就有了内容和情感的存续。中国木板年画精品展既是年画艺术的一次集中大展示，又是对中国传统民间文化的积极传承，也为到来的农历丁酉年增加了“年味儿”。

New Year Pictures used to be a must for celebrating the Spring Festival， the traditional Chinese New Year according to the lunar calendar which has been in use for more than two thousand years. Nowadays some people wonder why the Spring Festival festivities are no longer as colorful as they were in the past， one possible answer could be： New Year pictures are no longer a universal sign of the festival across the country. They used to be. Nowadays， one can only find the best specimens of the New Year Painting in books， museums or exhibitions. Some youngsters even have no idea what New Year pictures are.

During the Spring Festival celebrations in 2017， a New Year Painting exhibition was jointly held in Orchid Pavilion， Shaoxing by West Lake Museum of Hangzhou and Shaoxing Orchid Pavilion Museum of Calligraphy.

New Year Painting is a folk art genre that originated in the Han Dynasty （202BC-220AD）. Its popularity lasted for about 2，000 years. Over the past centuries， the Chinese New Year Painting spread to Japan， Korea， Vietnam， Myanmar and India.

In history， China had five major producers of New Year pictures. The New Year pictures created in Zhuxianzhen， Henan Province are widely considered the prototype of the genre. They reflect the northern lifestyle. The New Year pictures made in Yangliuqing in Tianjin became influential in the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644） and reached a climax in the Qing （1644-1911）. They are considered the greatest. Hangzhou used to be a center of New Year Painting production in Jiangnan， the south of the Yangtze River Delta. The style featured elegance and sophistication. In the Southern Song Dynasty seated in Hangzhou， the New Year pictures flourished in Hangzhou. Folk artists in Wuxi and Suzhou picked up the style and improved it. In the Ming and the Qing， Suzhou in present-day Jiangsu Province was the center of making New Year paintings. These artworks were all branded as production of Taohuawu （Peach Blossom Valley）. The paintings largely tell stories and legends. If placed side by side， Yangliuqing and Taohuawu feature obviously different styles.

Yangjiabu in Weifang， Shandong thrived as a major production center of New Year paintings in the last decades of the Qing. History says that there were over 100 studios in town that printed more than 1，000 titles. Tens of thousands of woodblocks were used.

In Sichuan， a southwestern province， Mianzhu used to be a big producer of New Year pictures. The best known images are gate-guarding gods and door children. The pictures were all painted in black lines and then manually colored.

There were also other regional production centers across China， such as Shaanxi， Fujian， Guangdong， Zhejiang， Anhui， Hunan and Guizhou provinces.

One hundred exhibits presented different styles and techniques and a wide range of themes. They used to add a lot of cultural elements and sentiments to the celebration of the Spring Festival. These pictures are artistic presentations of morality， culture， aesthetics， faith， etc. Most pictures carry full images in bright five colors： red， blue， yellow， white and black. These pictures reproduce the representative scenes of legends and myths， folktales， opera plays. These pictures can be considered as mini lectures on history， culture， lifestyle， viewpoints， and morality.

The Chinese New Year pictures declined in the 20th century， as modern arts influenced peoples aesthetics. A small number of studios across the country still make some pictures. But in the general， the glory and dream of the New Year pictures are long gone. Some private collectors and museums still hold some best specimens of the once most popular folk art.

What made the exhibition in Shaoxing special was that visitors to the exhibition could try their hands at making a New Year picture. Children were encouraged to add colors to the uncolored pictures in the making.