The first Jiangnan International Print Art Festival kicked off in Wuxi Pan Museum on Dec 23. [Photo/js.chinanews.com]

The first Jiangnan International Print Art Festival opened in Wuxi Pan Museum on Dec 23.

The print art festival will last for three months, displaying international top art prints, including works of Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Hiroaki Sano, Tan Ping and Zhang Xiaogang. Various free lectures, exhibitions and charity auctions about print art will be held as well.

Carving patterns on boards to make prints is an important form of Chinese art traceable back to the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The festival is being held to arouse people’s interest in prints and stimulate the art in China.

"Moveable type printing" is one of the famous inventions of ancient Chinese technology and culture. Ancient figures in Wuxi's Xishan district invented copper moveable type printing 500 years ago and promoted the skill to the Jiangnan area including Wuxi, Changzhou , Suzhou and Nanjing.

In modern times, watermark woodcut prints in Jiangsu province have become the best examples of Chinese national printing art.

Prints require exquisite skills of carving and sensitive control of color. [Photo/js.chinanews.com]

"I have helped plan many art projects, but this is the first time I have held an international print art festival covering the fields of industry, art academies, charities and so on," said Kang Jianfei, a professor from Central Academy of Fine Arts.

According to Kang, the relationship between art and the public is quite close. Art can be a part of life or a lifestyle, instead of something locked in an ivory tower.

The Jiangnan International Print Art Base opened as well on Dec 23.