Author: Zhu Heqin.
Sponsored by the China Museum of Nationalities, undertaken by the China Women and Children's Museum, and supported by the Embroidery Art Committee of the Chinese Art Anthropology Society, the "Chinese National Embroidery Exhibition" will be exhibited at the China Women and Children's Museum from now until January 21. As the first special exhibition focusing on the embroidery of various ethnic groups in China, this exhibition displays a total of 200 sets of embroidery works, gathering 8 local famous embroidery, focusing on the representative embroidery of 12 ethnic groups distributed in the east, west, north, south and central regions of the motherland, and classifying 20 types of life embroidery. From the three dimensions of time, space and national culture, the exhibition is divided into three units: Chinese embroidery with deep roots and flowers, national embroidery with "a hundred flowers blooming", and life embroidery with "icing on the cake", presenting the poetic space of Chinese embroidery culture in three dimensions. Under the guidance of 300 embroidery pieces and ground stickers, along the Chinese embroidery culture development footprints of the pre-Qin embroidery dragon, Han and Jin embroidery Buddhas, Tang and Song embroidery paintings, Ming and Qing dynasty famous embroideries, and modern folk embroidery, visitors can easily integrate into the poetic atmosphere of the Chinese embroidery garden.
Yuan Dynasty gold embroidered lying deer group pattern arch sac (partial).
There are many highlights in this exhibition, especially the poetry and integration of the embroidery culture of various ethnic groups in the Chinese embroidery culture, which is quite enlightening. With solid professional knowledge, broad cultural vision, and the exhibition mode of "one poem and one object", the exhibition shows the poetic temperament, poetic feeling, poetic wisdom and poetic identity of Chinese embroidery culture growing in the "first line of flowers", from poetry to embroidery, from daily necessities to ingenious artworks.
First of all, the creativity of poetic imagination is highlighted in the history of the development of Chinese embroidery. From the "Spring and Autumn Zuo Chuan Justice" note: "China has great etiquette, so it is called summer; There is the beauty of uniforms, which is called Hua"; "Shangshu Justice" note: "The crown dress is said to be Hua, and the great country is called Xia", to the discussion of modern scholars on the "flower" and "Hua", "Huaxu" and tidbits, "Baoxi" and flower species and other similar sounds, it can be seen that at the beginning of the formation of Chinese embroidery culture, it was full of poetic imagination, according to the ethnic origin of "Hua", the crown dress and the chapter were regarded as a representation of the image of the great unification of China. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the pictographic symbols of the "Twelve Chapters" on the costumes of Chinese leaders established the starting point of the history of Chinese embroidery of "the source of the black coat of arms, and the beginning of Chinese civilization". With the continuation and inheritance of the "Twelve Chapters" system that symbolizes the orthodoxy of China in the Liao, Jin, Yuan and Qing dynasties, the image of China's great unification has also been highlighted and strengthened by the "Huang Huang Emblem" on the clothing. Whether it is the embroidery technique of embroidery and cut-and-paste, or the embroidery custom of threading needles and begging, in the history of the development of Chinese embroidery, the poetic creative imagination has never been absent. With the Han and Jin dynasties "wood and soil clothes embroidery" and "embroidery drapery" embroidery art is popular, the Tang and Song Dynasty embroidery painting needle innovation, the Ming and Qing dynasties, the growth of the scale of private weaving and embroidery institutions, embroidery has been from the initial identity, embellishment of clothing and accessories, gradually has independent aesthetic characteristics, and embroidery has the rich meaning of painting, painting and scenery, and the rich meaning of the scene, and the poetic embroidery in the continuous innovation and development, showing a changeable composition and shape. For example, on the arch sac of the golden embroidered lying deer group in the Yuan Dynasty, according to the poetic association of the law of similarity, it seems that the imitation of the lifelike reclining deer on the bow sac has the magic power to attract prey, which leads people to reverie.
Second, in the delicate appearance of famous embroidery and folk embroidery, the structural beauty of poetic deformation and the beauty of poetic identity are presented. In order to allow visitors to feel the artistic charm of Chinese embroidery culture from the aspects of embroidery needle transformation, embroidery pattern configuration, and color selection of embroidery bottom, etc., and truly appreciate the poetic temperament of embroidery in the appreciation of elegance and vulgarity. The exhibitors adopt the exhibition strategy of combining physical objects and local magnification**, and use details to reveal the poetic secret of "a line of flowers". For example, unearthed in Xining, Qinghai Province, the Song Dynasty West Passion embroidery shoes, with red and yellow wool on both sides of the upper to draw six deformed flowers, the flamboyant petals in a warm blooming posture to release vitality. Also on the embroidered belt of the Miao nationality in Yuan County, Zhenyuan, Guizhou, the butterflies that spread their wings and sing with their mouths upright, and the manned birds that ride the wind and waves also depict a beautiful picture of life in the hearts of the people with imaginative deformation compositions. And with a needle instead of writing, with a thread embroidery painting, can reflect the poetic realm of "painting and embroidery skillfully borrowing color, elegant and extremely natural", which is Gu embroidery. In the exhibition hall, Gu embroidery boutique "Yazhai Listening to Bamboo Drawing" not only uses silk threads to interpret the ink color into a wonderful interpretation, but also expresses the shade of the pen end to the fullest, especially the poems of "a branch and a leaf are always about love" on the embroidery surface, and it is also the emotional identity of loving the family, loving the people and loving the country all over the embroidery scroll.
Third, the narrative of embroidery and painting stimulates the supreme feelings of poetic ethics. The connoisseur's comprehensive experience of the symbolic, formal and moral aspects of embroidery constitutes a complete part of the acceptance of embroidery. The narrative of embroidery revolves around the portrayal of the characters' facial expressions, which is more likely to highlight the ethical virtues in the motivation of behavior. The "opening of the seedling gate" embroidered like a tide makes a simple rice planting agricultural activity become solemn and sacred surrounded by seedling fields, green pines, flags, birds and temples. The skillful movements, pleasant expressions, and expectations for a bumper harvest of grain all point to the aesthetic connotation of "the warehouse is solid, the world is safe" in the people's livelihood and folk music. Similarly, in the exhibition hall, the smooth narrative of crossing a horse and leaving home, making meritorious achievements, being talented and beautiful, and achieving fame in the embroidered horse coat of the Fujian She nationality in the Qing Dynasty is not so much an orderly ideal of life, but rather a pious attitude towards life, which sensualizes, concretizes, and visualizes virtue in accordance with the requirements of poetic ethics.
Fourth, the common "flower" in poetry is used to forge the sense of community of the Chinese nation. With the warmest emotions, the sons and daughters of all ethnic groups in China use a line to transform all the different kinds of flowers in nature into a variety of "embroidery" under the needle, and share a line of patterns, and will also be "Meiduo", "Qiqige", "Guli" and other different names of various ethnic groups on "flowers", in the imagination to achieve the poetry of embroidery culture. Therefore, in the exhibition hall, all kinds of floral embroidery with filament, batch needle smudge, beautiful shape and exquisite art are dizzying. It is just an ordinary aquarium horsetail embroidered strap, in which the pattern of "one peanut and all things" vividly reveals the pluralistic and integrated form of the Chinese nation's sense of community, and the pomegranate flower shape in the center of the stamen emphasizes the importance of communication, exchange and integration to the growth of all things. In short, the exhibition not only emphasizes the embroidery skills, embroidery customs, famous embroidery style, folk embroidery customs, highlights the beauty of the regional and national embroidery products, but also according to different classifications, so that the embroidery products of various regions and nationalities compete in one type, and the beauty is shared, highlighting the sense of community generated by the Chinese embroidery culture in the poetry.
If it is said that "the musician, the virtue of the Hua also", then the Chinese embroidery is solidified in the needlepoint of the movement, which shows the poetic characteristics of the Chinese children "morality first" at the same time, but also as the prototype image of the "flower" deeply engraved in the depths of people's collective consciousness, become the unique identity of the image of the Chinese nation. In the poetic characteristics of Chinese embroidery culture, the poetic integration between poetic imagination, poetic ethics and poetic identity has added eye-catching brilliance to this unique logo. In fact, the relationship between Chinese "embroidery" and "poetry" is close, and the literati and writers of all dynasties have rich literary creations for the wonderful skills of female red embroidery, the delicate feelings of embroidered female embroiderers, and the hard work and grievances of folk embroiderers. Of course, the core of the exhibition is still the "first line", as the curator of this exhibition, He Chen, deputy director of the Collection Department of the China National Museum, is even more to break the intention of the exhibition: the name of the exhibition "A Line of Flowers" is to tell you that the "first line" here is the main line of the sense of community of the Chinese nation, only the "first line" can give birth to "flowers", and only the "first line" can embroider the "prosperous chapter" of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Indeed, without a "line", there will be no scorching bloom of Chinese embroidery flowers.
The author is a professor and doctoral supervisor of Xinjiang University
*: China Art Daily.