嵩山木雕因其濃厚的民族特色和濃郁的嵩山地方特色而名聞遐邇。少林寺、中岳廟歷代修繕,都離不開木雕藝人。其梁枋、雀替、藻頂、掛面、格扇門窗、神龕、幾案等都需要木雕工藝的裝飾。
木雕工藝又稱小木作,從技法上講,有線雕、陰雕、浮雕、圓雕、透雕等,從應用及裝飾范圍上可分為建筑雕刻、家具雕刻、陳設工藝品雕刻、紀念裝飾雕刻等。
嵩山木雕一般采用嵩山本地的大葉楊或椴木等材質,多取材嵩山民間傳說、歷史典故、宗教故事,以及富有吉祥寓意的福祿壽喜文化。嵩山木雕的風格,不僅有北方木雕的粗獷渾厚,還有南方木雕的精巧秀麗,具有布局均勻、線條流暢、造型洗練和紋樣化強的特點,其最明顯的特征就是“意匠”,即充分運用我國傳統的象征、寓意和祈望手法,結合中華民族的審美意識,從而使嵩山木雕工藝和審美習慣達到和諧統一的境界。
嵩山木雕的代表作是中岳廟大殿的盤龍藻井,群眾俗稱老龍盤窩。木雕傳世作品還有散落于民間的八仙桌、太師椅、匾額、屏風、佛像等。最杰出的嵩山木雕藝術家是蘆會,二十世紀在豫西一帶享有盛名。
Songshan Wood Carvings
Songshan Wood Carving enjoys a high reputation for its thick national features and local color.
Wood carving is also called little carpentry. In the view of making technology, it can be divided into line carving, embossment, circular engrave, etc; in the view of usage and decoration, they are building carving, furniture carving, crafts carving, memorial decoration carving and so on.
Songshan wood carvings always choose local populus iasiocarpa and basswood as main materials, and folk legends, historical stories and religious tales as major themes, and contains Ferro Shouxi culture as well which has a profound lucky message. They are not only as rough and tense as northern carvings, but also as ingenious and pretty as southern carvings. Songshan Wood Carvings have the characteristics of balanced distribution, fluent linellae, succinct shape as well as various dermatoglyphic patterns. Its biggest feature is Carved with Meaning, that's to say, make full use of Chinese traditional techniques of symbol, implied meaning and wishing, and unit with Chinese aesthetic consciousness so that this wood carving technique and aesthetic habits will fulfill harmony and unity. The most excellent artist is Lu Hui, who earns a good fame in the west region of Henan province in 20th century.