Series of Chinese Caricature

Caricature, which is also known as sketch drawing in China, is a kind of drawing which expresses significance through simple strokes. Since the first caricature was work published with that terminology, Chinese caricature has witnessed over 70 years of exploration and glory. In this expansion of time, caricaturists, with their tenacious spirit of creation, rich experience in life and great achievements, represented the actual life of people, exposed pictures of various people and the world, and made caricature a pearl of the Chinese drawing arts so that it came to occupy an important position in modern Chinese arts history. This series of books collects the representative works of 18 outstanding caricaturists: Feng Zikai, Zhang Leping, Ye Qianyu, Zhang Guangyu, Hua Junwu, Ding Cong, Fang Cheng, Mi Gu, Wei Qimei, Zhan Tong, Yu Huangli, Zhang Ding, Wang Fuyang, Jiang Fan, Han Yu, Fang Tang and Miao Di. Their works reflect the highest artistic achievements in different periods of Chinese caricature history and present a panorama of 20th century Chinese caricature. The main threads of this series are individual artists who are represented by their major works. Every artist has a volume and each volume has 130 to 150 works which can best reflect the artist's styles of creation and artistic achievements. All works are reproductions of either the original copies or the earliest copies or the best copies if the original ones are missing. No modifications are made so as to keep the originality of the works. Self-portraits, introductions and biographies of the artists are also included before the works to familiarise readers with the personalities, lives and characteristics of the caricaturists. This series fills a blank in China's publication industry, sets up a monument for Chinese caricature, provides very valuable historical information to studies of modern Chinese arts history, and becomes an important document in the history of Chinese caricature.

Aside: Caricature is a term which is neither remote nor near in the sense of time. Its emergence is not related to the periods of silence in history, but coincided with the coming of the 20th century. It is a kind of art that keeps step with the present time and is a fresh art form which keeps evolving and developing. What does it look like now? Let us have a look.

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