It is difficult to trace the history of papercutting. Many of the fine and delicately cut artworks were discarded or lost as time ate away at the paper creations. Early cuttings from the fourth and fifth century in China were often used to place elaborate patterns on textiles or porcelain. Although artists were often part of royalty, papercutting soon became a folk art practiced by commoners whose cutouts decorated their homes.

    By the seventeenth century had spread throughout the world. A study of these styles demonstrate the wide variety of cutting techniques that have developed.The Japanese art of papercutting, Mon-kiri, was used to cut family emblems and crests from paper. Its most common motifs reflect an interest in the symmetry of nature. Turkey boasted a guild that was devoted entirely to the task of papercutting.

    Cutters in Italy, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland developed distinct regional styles. Many used scissors, but some artists used knives to do their "paper carving". Much of the early work from these countries was religious in nature. Often, hand-lettered and painted religious texts also boasted papercut designs as well. Jews throughout Europe illustrated their rich history with pictorial symbols of the Old Testament and Torah. Europeans also cut impressively elaborate designs on many of their legal documents. These cut embellishments often occupied three to four times the amount of space as the written or cut text.

    During the 1600's, the German form of scherenschnitte had become a folded paper cut-out form. Many were created from single- folded paper and others were cut from flat sheets. One form was the hand-cut valentine. These often included amazingly elaborate designs as well as hand lettered words of love.

    In Poland the paper cut-outs were frequently pure decoration. These designs, called wycinanki, were traditionally symmetrical and often used layers of colors to form pictorial collages. When Russian invaders confiscated knives and scissors, villagers were found to cut their intricate designs with sheep shears, a method known as Sycinanki.

    Another widespread form of cut work was the art of silhouette cutting. Itinerant papercutters sometimes traveled from village to village cutting likenesses of families, trees, flowers and birds. Immigrants from southern Germany and Switzerland brought the craft of scherenschnitte to America. Fleeing religious persecution, these people settles in areas such as Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which is still a center for papercutting artistry today.

    Alan Jaeger has studied many of the papercutting art forms. He has also incorporated some of these styles into his own artwork and into his classroom. He has been an art teacher in Toms River, New Jersey for the past 29 years. This year he was selected Teacher of the Year. He is presently teaching a course that he developed entitled Multicultural Art. Scherenschnitte and wycinancki have become part of that curriculum. He also has his own craft business, Papercuts by Alan Jaeger. Here he has again included his own as well as old styles from the art form called papercutting.
For further information you may contact Alan Jaeger at Cut2u@aol.com.

Visit Alans website! (Click here)