The Chinese woodblock prints that were on display were likely from a nineteenth century edition of Treatise on Calligraphy and Painting of the Ten Bamboo Studio. Although this work, originally printed in the seventeenth century, was intended as a manual of painting, it and other editions are a testament to the precision and skill of Chinese woodcutters and painters. The prints of the Ten Bamboo studio were noteworthy for the technique of printing using multiple blocks; this resulted in prints without outlines and with graded tones of colors. Among the designs featured in these meticulously rendered prints are blossoms, branches and birds and, most notably, gongshi.
Professor Xiaobing Tang of the University of Southern California presented a lecture entitled “Chinese Woodblock Prints: The Story of an Ancient Art Form” on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Artist craftsman Igor Koutsenko presented a demonstration, The Craft of Woodblock Printing, on Sunday, March 16, 2008.