天津民间绝活“刻砖刘”走访记

Consummate Folk Skills in Tianjin"Brick Carving Liu"

刘书儒是天津著名的刻砖艺人“刻砖刘”刘凤鸣的传人。

Liu Shuru is the descendant of Liu Fengming, well-knownbrick carving artist 'Brick Carving Liu' in Tianjin.Liu Fengming’s works of art were rich, vivid andexaggerated. He invented the 'brick piling method'----sticking a lot of small bricks on the face of the base brick, allof which were well arranged and diversified, forming amulti-storey handiwork. Some of his massive brick carvingswere jointed together by dozens of carved black bricks. Heapplied the method to his famous carving 'Nine Lions'.Step by step, his fame spread far and wide.In 1978, Liu Shuru pledged with tears in his eyes before hisdying father that he would carry on the art of 'BrickCarving Liu', Liu Shuru has devoted his life and energy tothe handicraft. Nowadays, as the classic buildings becomefewer and fewer, Liu has no chances to display his brickcarving skills. Even the black bricks used for carving arehard to find. The traditional art on the walls of the brick houses are disappearing from life and almost forgotten bypeople. His son Liu Zheng, under the pressure of life, can notcarry on the brick carving technique of the Liu family.