While chatting, there is a "bei" coming. Between light and shadow, Fang Xiao is warm and cold. Hello everyone, I am Brother Tianbei~
It is the mission of book binding designers to design a suitable carrier for tangible words and pictures, and to build a sky for intangible thoughts and imagination to fly freely. , and it is a lifelong choice they made with love and concentration.
The fourth episode of "But There Are Books" focuses on the perseverance and persistence of three book binding designers along the way. They integrate their unique design concepts and artistic pursuits into book design work, giving paper books unique artistic qualities and aesthetic styles, turning paper books into works of art that spread ideas and culture, and also making books The artistic charm can be demonstrated and carried forward.
From cover to text?
The concept of innovation and practice
55 years and more than 1,500 books, Ning Chengchun is one of the first batch to learn and practice A person who practices modern book design concepts. Ning Chengchun, who graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts majoring in book art, can be regarded as an out-and-out "scientific student".
In the 1960s, when book design was still limited to cover art design, Ning Chengchun relied on his solid painting and calligraphy skills to design many book covers with the characteristics of the times and historical imprints.
He not only strives to be meticulous in painting and calligraphy, but also always maintains a rigorous attitude when designing offset printing covers, marking out the parameter data of every detail. The conscientious and responsible Ning Chengchun was appreciated by his senior Fan Yong and was given the precious opportunity to go to Japan twice to study book binding.
The experience of studying design concepts and techniques in Japan gave Ning Chengchun a new understanding of book binding, and he became more and more passionate about this career to which he is committed.
After returning to China, he combined the design concept based on text with the new technology of grid design, and designed many representative and breakthrough works.
When designing "Chen Yinke's Last 20 Years", he added punctuation and spaces to the table of contents in the book, and arranged them closely on the cover, expressing an atmosphere similar to the content in the book. The main design of the cover is the photo of Chen Yinke leaning on a stick in the book, which demonstrates the moral integrity and style of a scholar who says "a bamboo stick and mango shoes can beat a horse easily, and a man can live his whole life in the misty rain".
Ning Chengchun’s design starts from revealing the ideological core of books and shows the increasing innovation of modern design concepts in details. He is also using his solid design skills and his passion for design to inherit the traditional publishing style of the "Sanlian" intellectuals' spiritual appeal, practice the design concepts of modern books, and promote the inheritance and development of book design.
From art book to academic book
Construction of more possibilities
He Hao is an independent designer. Initially, he designed books for many artists in a variety of styles.
He Hao, who could not find pleasure in commercial design, accidentally participated in the design of an artist's book. Since then, he has cooperated with artists such as Xu Bing, Qiu Minjun, Rongrong, etc., and started his own art book design journey.
With his in-depth understanding of art and excellent professional abilities, Xu Hao quickly distinguished himself in the field of art book design and designed many personal masterpieces.
He believes that "to design in terms of editorial concepts, the concept is like the human skeleton, and the layout is the muscles and skin." This is a relationship of flesh and blood and interdependence.
When designing Xu Bing's prints, he and Xu Bing took photos and scans of the original works again and again, trying to preserve and highlight the texture of the original works on the basis of restoring the imprints of the original paintings.
When designing Nobuyoshi Araki's "Sentimental Journey", the bright but not eye-catching yellow and sunken title are the best for this photographic work that tells and places the sentimentality of life and death. Interpretation and interpretation.
While constantly enriching his artistic qualities, He Hao began to shift from design art books to academic books.
Whether it is a painting or a photograph, an art book has a visual image that has been created by the author. The designer only needs to organize and arrange these visual images. Academic books, on the other hand, convey ideas and trigger thinking through text and lack visual limitations, but this also brings more design possibilities and imagination to academic books.
He Hao regards every design as "rewriting the content". After fully understanding the author's writing style and writing intention, he starts from the content and uses design to re-create the book. Let it maintain its original ideological and cultural quality in a tangible form, and have more vivid vitality and aesthetic value.
?From Chinese calligraphy to design publishing
Natural art without sculpture?
Boying is an American artist. His inspiration for art comes from Due to his love for nature, he can always find a way to communicate with the world through his works, whether he is painting with charcoal ashes or turning sand and stones into human heads and returning them to the sea.
Chinese calligraphy is an art form that fascinates Bo Ying. He not only studied calligraphy in China, but also traveled across China to visit the calligraphy on ancient stone tablets.
He founded a one-man publishing house and began to get involved in book design and publishing. The 27-year-old Bo Ying completed his first book. This book is about calligraphy, and also related to his experience as a teacher and friend in his calligraphy hobby.
Zhang Chonghe is known as "the last talented woman of the Republic of China". She has profound attainments in calligraphy, poetry, Kunqu opera and other artistic fields.
She once went to the United States with pen, ink and simple clothes and began a free life.
Bo Ying got acquainted with Zhang Chonghe through a calligraphy exhibition. From then on, he regarded Zhang Chonghe as his teacher, and gradually came up with the idea of ??editing and publishing his teacher's poems.
He took photos and plate-making of Zhang Chonghe's manuscripts, and together with Zhang Chonghe's teacher Fu Hansi, translated 18 poems selected by Zhang Chonghe into English.
Bo Ying personally repaired a hand-crank letterpress printing press and was very particular about the use of paper and ink. He also hired a calligrapher to make a type of calligraphy for Zhang Chonghe. The best matching English font.
The cover of "Peach Blossom Fish" is made of three different woods: Indian rosewood, Alaskan cedar and African sapele wood.
This is because Bo Ying and Zhang Chonghe have the same love and yearning for nature. They once sat in the yard together and discussed bamboo all afternoon.
Just like the words engraved on Zhang Chonghe's seal, "A lifelong hobby is nature." Whether poetry, calligraphy or Kun Opera, this kind of love and persistence are indispensable. The natural breath guides the unique inspiration. Inspiration turns into works of art, releasing the breath of nature, and the charm of art is revealed in this process.
The experience of searching for stone tablets in China made him deeply realize that the weathered stone tablets carry words through the vicissitudes of life, so whether wood, pearls, meteorites and even other things in the world can also become records. and the medium of communication.
As a result, Bo Ying began to make bold breakthroughs in book-making materials, and the book made of meteorites really became the "Book of Heaven" falling from the sky. He believes that every book will have its own most suitable carrier, and then it can effectively connect with his inner world and the universe in his mind through smell, color, and shape, becoming a natural choice for expressing his budding thoughts and endless imagination.
Starting from the content and moving towards life, book designers "locked all the meaningful emotions and profound thoughts into those square inches", allowing the artistic temperament and interesting soul to become Paper books have a unique charm.
No matter how rapidly e-books develop, "But There Are Books" always looks with calm and profound eyes at paper books that may be forgotten but will never disappear.
Because, in the current era of diversified development of reading media, paper books are works of art that can extract cultural core and artistic characteristics from life and give humanistic richness and aesthetic value. Behind a piece of book art, there will always be book designers and artists whose lifelong hobby is making books.
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