This print, from a series entitled “As Time Goes By”, uses multiple blocks and water soluble ink to achieve its effects. The lighter area is a “sample” from a popular print from the late Quing period (1644-1911). It depicts people in period costume and has been inserted in to a larger print depicting modern life and customs in a canal city in Zhejiang province. The white patches refer to the effect when woodblocks wear out and the entire print can be read as a meditation on the passage of time.

 

Wu Jide graduated from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts and is professor at the China National Academy of Fine Art.