"Like ink poured over stainless silk, distant are landscapes and figures. Orchids and bamboos stirred by the breeze, steady as pine trees by an old pavilion." Those are the words from poet Zhu Wenzao, depicting Wuhu wrought iron painting: artworks of incredible craftsmanship, history and the gem of the Yangtze River culture.

Wuhu wrought iron painting, also known as "iron flowers", has been absorbing methods and skills from traditional Chinese painting and jewelry making, as well as paper-cut and sculpting. Using low-carbon steel as raw material, Wuhu artists paint with hamper and iron through a method of drafting, cutting, smashing, burning, waxing and framing. They make artworks of landscape, figures, flowers, insects and fishes, birds and beasts. As agreed by the intellectual community, the wrought iron painting was invented by a blacksmith named Tang Peng, a Wuhu local in the early Qing dynasty. He was first known for using mace as a brush to forge art. In 2006, this unique art style was listed by the State Council as one of the national intangible cultural heritages.

Up to the present, the wrought iron painting has developed several categories according to different contents: calligraphy, figures, insects and birds, landscape and social life. There are also two types of large-size wrought iron painting: screen and fresco. The latest market trend, gold art, mainly consists of decorative pieces (sitting and hanging). Other next-generation products include porcelain boards, and plates, foldable painting, bonsai painting, cubic and semi-cubic iron painting, which break dimensional boundaries. As a kind of folk craftwork, wrought iron painting possesses both artistic and social values.

Wuhu wrought iron painting is a fruit of Chinese intelligence and history. Tang Peng, the blacksmith, allegedly once lived next to a great artist named Xiao Yuncong, who had a great influence on him. Then he started experimenting by copying Xiao's calligraphy and painting works with iron pieces through a method of cutting, forging and wielding. This gives Wuhu iron painting its unique quality as a Chinese art style. Applied with hammer, painted with iron on an anvil, Wuhu painting successfully incorporated traditional Chinese painting as well as paper-cut and sculpting. Adopting black-white contrast and Taoism philosophy, Wuhu wrought iron painting displays strength, wildness and magnificence. Its recognizable style is extremely special and unique.

Wuhu wrought iron painting is a great cultural innovation. "Iron strokes and silver hooks" has long been the teaching of Chinese calligraphy, as was "iron sketches" required by Chinese traditional painting. The art of Wuhu wrought iron painting borrows freestyle painting from tradition and highlights on thickness and contrast of both coloring and shape, through which it has brought art to a whole new level by combining calligraphy and blacksmithing. Mr. Kaii Higashiyama, the famous Japanese landscape artist, after viewing Wuhu wrought iron painting in 1981, said, "The Chinese artists have achieved something I can't as a painter. They made iron into art." Scientifically speaking, by combining forging (an industrial technology) and painting (an artistic skill), Wuhu wrought iron art has connected two seemingly distant worlds and it may shed some light on the future of civilization. Wuhu wrought iron painting is an amazing achievement of Chinese art and craft. In Anhui Chamber of the Great Hall of the People, there's a huge screen of wrought iron painting entitled "Welcoming Pines". And in the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, another wrought iron artwork of calligraphy by Chairman Mao himself: "A long march is harsh but not for the Red Army". The biggest character stands as tall as 1.5 meters and weighs 10 kilos. The artists with their superb technique, are what give Anhui art its modern taste and uniqueness. In recent years, those artists continue to amaze the world with innovations such as cubic iron painting, porcelain-plate art as well as gold and gilded paintings.

（Photo/Shen Gongshi）

(Photo/Wen Qin)