David Leffman; Chinese woodblock prints: Folk Art, Gods and Propaganda

DAVID LEFFMAN; Chinese Woodblock Prints: Folk Art, Gods and Propaganda

While still at school David Leffman became fascinated by an exhibition of Japanese prints at the local museum, and taught himself  to cut, ink, and print woodblocks for a final-year art assignment.

He first visited China in 1985 and has been back and forth ever since as a freelance travel writer and photographer. He bought his first Chinese woodblock prints in the 1990s, and investigating why they were made has given him insights into wider aspects of traditional Chinese culture –religion, history, literature and folklore.

Chinese woodblock prints were once made in their millions, but today this folk art is dying out. Using prints from his collection – cheerful New Year pictures, fierce door guardians and talismans, “paper horse” deity prints, and action-packed nineteenth-century propaganda sheets – David Leffman investigates the hidden meanings, social commentary, history and folklore behind each print, and the challenges faced by the remaining printing centres and craftsmen.