Shadow Journey to the East on Rawhide Wings
Long before the invention of film the Chinese developed a remarkable art form of moving images. Shadow puppets, made of pierced and embossed rawhide and manipulated with sticks behind an illuminated screen of transparent cloth, entertained both emperors and rural peasants. Accompanied by music, shadow theater brought good luck at weddings and offered welcome distraction at funerals.
An entertaining new exhibition at the China Institute, “Enchanted Stories: Chinese Shadow Theater in Shaanxi,” explores this rich folk art tradition, which originated in Shaanxi Province (in the north-central area of the country known as the cradle of Chinese civilization). Western viewers may not be familiar with the traditional story lines or characters of shadow puppetry, but anyone who has seen the cut-paper silhouettes of Kara Walker will get the idea.
The 90 figures and screens on view date primarily from the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911). They are grouped in static displays, but it’s easy to picture them as elements of a flickering spectacle.
Chinese shadow puppets are made, in a labor-intensive process, from cow skins that are carved, dyed, ironed and hand-stitched. Because the rawhide is not completely opaque, light shining through the puppets gives them a striking stained-glass effect. At the China Institute some puppets are shown behind illuminated scrims, and others are pinned to the backs of display cases (presumably to allow closer inspection of the skilled leather work).
The richest detailing is reserved for puppets representing deities. A figure of Marshal Yin, the God of Time, has three heads of flaming red hair and carries no fewer than five accessories, including a “heaven-measuring ruler” and a “sky-shaking seal.” A sort of heavenly contractor, this god keeps watch on the construction of palaces and houses from his mansion in the sky.
The rapid and dramatic transfiguration of characters in shadow puppetry is enabled by the spatial and optical illusions created by the illuminated screen. (When a puppet recedes from the screen, its shadow becomes larger and less clear.) Performers also use a variety of special effects: creating fog by blowing tobacco smoke through a thin pipe, or fire by spraying and lighting rosin simultaneously.
Shadow-theater troupes can choose their repertory from more than 500 plays, which are often closely related to literature and Chinese operas. Among those represented in the exhibition are “Journey to the West,” adapted from a Ming Dynasty novel about the monk Xuan Zang’s pilgrimage to India, and “Madam White Snake,” based on an ancient legend of a strong-willed woman who battles evil monks while pregnant.
As China modernizes at breakneck speed, emphasizing the factorylike production of contemporary artists, the tradition of Shaanxi shadow theater is on the wane. This exhibition makes an excellent argument for its continued survival. New York Times
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