Passenger of Silence: My Quest for the Ancient Arts of China Post-Cultural Revolution

Was it reasonable to leave everything behind from one day to the next and go off alone into the depths of Communist China in search of the forgotten secrets of ancient Chinese art? Fabienne Verdier didn't ask herself that question: it was as if in the early 1980s this brilliant young art student suddenly became possessed by the desire to learn the ancient Chinese art of painting and calligraphy that had been devastated by the Cultural Revolution. When she turned up in an art school run by the party, a foreigner lost in the province of Sichuan, she was determined to overcome all the obstacles: the language and the mistrust of the Chinese, but also the unbearable lack of privacy and hygiene, the poverty and filth, the inquisitorial way of running things... Putting the West completely to the back of her mind, she became the pupil of great artists, despised and marginalized as they were, who initiated her into the secrets and practices of an age-old art form. This unique experience gave rise to a true adventure story and a fascinating body of work that combines Oriental inspiration with contemporary art, as illustrated in her book L'unique Trait de Pinceau (Albin Michel).