Woodblock printmaking in Yunnan - the Jueban Technique

Chen Li creates his award-winning woodblock prints using a rare jueban technique which has been dubbed the “suicide” technique because it leaves no room for error. All colours are printed from a single woodblock. Each step carves over the previous one until the woodblock is destroyed. This lends a sense of urgency to each work and allows for only a single edition in which each print is unique.

The Yunnan Province where Chen Li lives is one of the best known areas for the use and development of this method which roughly translates from Chinese - jueban 绝版 - as “reduction” or ‘waste-block” printing.”

The technique builds up the image through a process of repeated cutting and printing of the same woodblock, printing with a different coloured ink after each cutting. Since the process relies on printing one colour over another, only the opaque, oil-based inks are suitable. [fn] These inks give the prints a unique texture, similar to an oil painting.

[fn: Farrer, Anne, ed., Chinese Printmaking Today: Woodblock Printing in China 1980-2000 (London: British Library, 2003), p. 119.]”

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For Chen Li’s bio, jueban woodblock prints, and paintings, click here

Cool Facts

The artist starts by determining the amount of prints or impressions in that single edition – it is usually a small amount; for example, 20. He or she then cuts a section of the woodblock corresponding to the image to be printed in the first colour, going from darkest to lightest (or vice versa).

After printing the 20 impressions, the artist cuts the next section of the woodblock, covering the woodblock with a second colour over the first. This destroys the ability to re-print the first colour and locks the edition into the pre-determined number of prints.

This intricate and complex process continues until the image is fully cut, all the colours are printed, and the woodblock is destroyed.