Back to the East

Now, 14 pieces from this Monkey King series are on display at an ongoing exhibition at Prince Kung's Palace in Beijing. The exhibition is dedicated to Sklenar's drawings and lithographs from the 1930s to the '80s, and the exhibits are from the collection of the Zdenek Sklenar Gallery in Prague.

Sklenar's art made its China debut in 2009, when a retrospective exhibition was held at the National Art Museum of China, where the Monkey King illustrations were also shown. They were also part of the Czech national pavilion during the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

The Chinese audience, which is familiar with the figures and scenarios of Journey to the West, has found Sklenar's graffiti-style presentation of the story appealing.

Fan Di'an, who heads the Central Academy of Fine Arts, says the late artist's production embodies "a strong modern touch" by incorporating his impressions of Chinese culture with European visual traditions in a "smart and innovative" way. Fan had curated Sklenar's debut China exhibition.