The Phenomenon of Chinese Painting

A fundamental book by an outstanding sinologist whose works were read by the entire creative intelligentsia in the 1970s–90s is being published for the first time in the author’s own edition. Evgeniya Zavadskaya introduces readers to the mesmerizing world of Chinese painting, where, behind centuries-old canons, a distinctive philosophy and the aesthetics of the East are revealed.

Evgeniya Zavadskaya (1930–2002) was a Soviet and Russian orientalist-sinologist, art historian, and translator, with degrees in art history and philosophy. Her contribution to the development of Russian sinology is hard to overestimate: she gave lectures in Taiwan on Russian literature, translated poems by Mandelstam, Brodsky, and other poets into Chinese. Zavadskaya was the most well-known sinologist-art historian of her time—throughout the 1970s–90s her books were avidly read in a wide variety of creative circles. Her key work was her monograph "Aesthetic Problems of Painting in Old China": due to censorship restrictions, the book was published under a changed title, even though the author’s original intent had been designated differently—"The Phenomenon of Chinese Painting".

Decades later, Zavadskaya’s works are being published for the first time in her authorial version—with a preface by her student Vera Belozyorova, a well-known sinologist and professor at HSE.

"The Phenomenon of Chinese Painting" takes the reader into a mysterious realm of ancient Chinese thought and art. On the book’s pages, philosophical treatises and reflections of sages come to life, in which ideas about beauty, harmony, and humanity’s place in the universe were formed; later, innovative artists embodied these ideas in silk and paper, closing a single circle: thought — creativity — contemplation — the human being. The edition’s special value is enhanced by translations of key Chinese texts on philosophy and the theory of painting, supplemented with extensive commentary. They help the modern reader recognize the symbolic language and hidden meanings of traditional scrolls. The book will be both an engaging read for everyone interested in Eastern culture and art and a serious study for specialists—historians, sinologists, art historians, and cultural scholars. This is a rare opportunity to get closer to the spiritual roots of Chinese painting and to see how philosophy, poetry, and visual art come together in a unified aesthetic tradition.

The book includes additional material in PDF format: it can be downloaded on the audiobook page on the website after purchase.