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Farmer’s paintings:
Chinese farmer's painting is relatively a new art form, and appeared in the late 1950s partly as a result of political encouragement, took shape in the 1970s, but to the 1980s, it had demonstrated its vitality with unique charm. The unsophisticated, kind, and often optimistic nature of the peasants is imparted through the strokes of their brushes.
Without professional training in art academies, the farmers make these paintings to express their own joys, upsets, and ponderings. As a matter of fact, a lot of the painters are illiterate. When they cannot express themselves with written, they take painting brushes instead. Taking a closer at the pictures, which usually feature farmlands, crops, pigs, sheep, and courtyards, you may gain a clue of what life is like in the country of the Far East.
The farmers are rarely restricted by the drawing techniques taught in art academies, thus the way they depict their lives is much less affected. Besides, the artists who reflect their farmer's lives in an artistic way are also farmers. As they are drawing the real happenings around themselves, the works are usually more affectionate. If an art student was asked to draw the livestock at the same time with a farmer artist, chances are their results are totally different.
However, the paintings did not come from nothing, and are closely related to some traditional arts of embroidering, batik (a fabric dying method), paper-cut, and wall painting. The colors are usually very bright, emitting very enthusiastic and vivid flavors, and artistic technique of exaggeration is frequently used.
Moreover, the rural elegance that comes with farmer's paintings spreads out the smell of vegetations in the wilderness as compared with the urban life -- noise of business. This feature helps give Chinese farmer's paintings their edge and accounts for the folk art attracting more favorable attention in recent years.
Huxian paintings
The most famous painting is Huxian paintings. Huxian paintings feature notable regional tones, marked by pictorial landscape and the rustic life. Using bright colors and exaggerated depictions, the artworks usually boast profound morals. The terse and crisp style vividly outlines the place’s beautiful landscape, farmers' cozy family lives, lively atmosphere on the farmland, and jubilant festivals, fully demonstrating the modern artistic features. Drawn with the hands, the artworks actually demonstrate their heart and soul. The composition, color, shape, pattern, and grain clearly show the profound cultural background of these works. While emitting the flavor of modern arts, the works also boast high values for academic researches and collection.
Just like the melodious folk songs in West China, the Farmers' Paintings in Huxian County expresses farmers' love and pursuit in life. The great changes in each passing day are recorded in these works.
