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Zdeněk Sklenář: Opičí králEXPO 2010 Shanghai1. 5. 2010 - 20. 5. 2010 We present to the world The Monkey King of Zdeněk Sklenář. This famous Czech artist was born in 1910. In 1955 he visited China. He established lifelong friendships with the painters Qi Baishi, Li Keran, Wu Zuoren and Fu Baoshi and the poet Ai Qing. The son of the latter, Ai Weiwei, a legendary artist and architect, highly commended Sklenář’s exhibition of last year in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. He said “Sklenář’s pictures have a benign, kindly soul.” Following his return from China, Sklenář illustrated Opičí král (The Monkey King), a Czech translation of Wu Ch’eng-en’s novel Journey to the West. Sklenář became the symbol of its new form. Today we present this book to you. After fifty years, Sklenář’s illustrations have been revived in a new form. At EXPO 2010 the world premiere will take place of an animated film and interactive program, which are based on the originals of The Monkey King. Let us rejoice in the heroic acts of the legendary heroes of this immortal, five hundred year-old story. The exhibition also includes Sklenář’s illustrations of a book of mythical ancient Chinese poetry. It was published in 1966 with the title Zpěvy staré Číny (Songs of Ancient China) and since then has become familiar to every Czech. In a new edition designed by the Chinese artist Zhang Shaojun, it constitutes an historic reminder of the exhibition Zdeněk Sklenář’s China, which took place in April of last year in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
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