The Ethnology Notebooks. 2025. № 6 (186), 1580—1591
UDK 7.041.3+611.9]:[111.852:22/24](5-11)
INTERSECTION OF MEDIUMS: AESTHETICS AND ANATOMICAL MYSTERIES OF THE HUMAN BODY IN EASTERN ART
MELNYCHUK Anastasia
- ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9930-1652
- Teacher of Plastic Anatomy,
- Senior Teacher of the Digital Visual Arts Department,
- National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture,
- вул. Вознесенський узвіз, 20, 04053, Київ, Україна,
- Contacts: e-mail: a.melnychuk@naoma.edu
GUANYU Cao
- ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9820-6635
- Art Teacher, Associate Professor, Professor,
- Quanzhou Institute of Information Engineering, China,
- Contacts: e-mail: 2252377840@qq.com
Abstract. Introduction. The aesthetic systems of the Far East represent one of the most refined and philosophically grounded models of understanding the world and the human being within it. Rooted in religious and philosophical traditions such as Taoism and Buddhism, Far Eastern aesthetics integrates the spiritual and the physical, the visible and the invisible, into a unified worldview. In the context of contemporary global culture, where interdisciplinary approaches increasingly blur the boundaries between art, philosophy, and anthropology, the study of Far Eastern aesthetics becomes particularly relevant. It not only deepens our understanding of artistic forms and stylistic tendencies but also reveals how the ideas of harmony, balance, and the spiritual essence of matter shaped artistic representations of the human body and nature.
Problem Statement. Despite the significant scholarly interest in Far Eastern art and philosophy, the issue of corporeality within Far Eastern aesthetics remains insufficiently systematized in Ukrainian and broader European academic discourse. The existing research often focuses on stylistic or religious aspects separately, without fully addressing the interrelation between aesthetic ideals and the artistic embodiment of the human form.
The purpose of the study is the historical and cultural analysis of Far Eastern aesthetics, which, in turn, had a certain influence on the realization of physicality in Far Eastern religious practices and plastic art. The research methodology is based on the application of the theoretical principles: historical and logical, systematic, comprehensive and comprehensive, and objectivity. In turn, these principles are the theoretical basis for the implementation of the historical-comparative method, which was applied in course of the analysis of plastic art products that are characteristic of Far Eastern religious practices (Taoism, Buddhism, etc.).
The methods of aesthetic theory and practice were applied: the structural method enabled analysis of facts related to corporeality in Far Eastern art, their relationships, and grouping. In addition, art-historical methods — especially those assessing plastic art — were essential. Art analysis also considers art as a psychological phenomenon, an ethnographic factor with folklore and ethnic features (in this study, based on the history of Far Eastern plastic art), and as an element of historiography, heuristics, and axiology.
Keywords: Far East, aesthetics, plastic anatomy, body, fine art, history of culture of Ancient China, Taoism, Buddhism.
Received 4.11.2025
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