The Phenomenon of Chinese Painting

Evgeniya Zavadskaya (1930–2002) – a Soviet and Russian sinologist, art historian, translator, candidate of art history, doctor of philosophy. Her contribution to the development of domestic sinology is hard to overestimate – she gave lectures on Russian literature in Taiwan, translated the poems of Mandelstam, Brodsky, and other poets into Chinese. She was the most renowned sinologist-art historian of her time – in the 1970s-90s, the creative intelligentsia of the country immersed themselves in her books. A fundamental contribution to the development of domestic sinology was made by Zavadskaya's monograph "Aesthetic Problems of Painting in Ancient China" – due to censorship, the work had to be renamed, but originally the author titled it – "The Phenomenon of Chinese Painting".
Many years later, her works are published for the first time in the author's edition, with a preface by Evgeniya Zavadskaya's student – Vera Beloziorova, also a renowned sinologist and professor at HSE.
"The Phenomenon of Chinese Painting" opens to the reader the amazing and mysterious world of ancient Chinese thought and art. Here, philosophical treatises and reflections of ancient sages come to life, in which ideas about beauty, harmony, and the place of man in the Universe were born, and over time, the innovative artists of their era embodied these thoughts on silk and paper, thus closing the circle – thought, creativity, contemplation, man. The publication is especially valuable for its translations of famous Chinese texts on philosophy and the theory of painting, accompanied by detailed commentaries. They allow the modern reader to understand more deeply the language of symbols and the hidden meanings of ancient scrolls of traditional Chinese painting. This edition will not only be an exciting read for lovers of Eastern culture and art but also a serious research work for specialists – historians, sinologists, art historians, and cultural scholars. The book provides a unique opportunity to touch upon the spiritual roots of Chinese painting and see how philosophy, poetry, and art intertwine into a unified aesthetic tradition.