Prague, March 6 (CTK) – The exhibition of the Slav Epic by Czech Art-Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha (1860-1939), which starts in Tokio on Tuesday, March 7, and will last until June 5, is a major part of the Year of Czech Culture in Japan, Simona Cigankova, spokeswoman for the Culture Ministry, said yesterday.
The exhibition’s inauguration will be attended by representatives of Prague and Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL).
The Year of Czech Culture was declared on the 60th anniversary of resumption of diplomatic relations between Japan and Czechoslovakia, which split into the Czech and Slovak republics as from 1993.
The year started in Toyama on October 15, 2016, with an exhibition of glass works by leading Czech 20th-century artists Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova in the Toyama Glass Art Museum.
Japan will be the first foreign country where the whole extensive cycle of paintings from Slav mythology will be displayed.
A part of the cycle was exhibited in Chicago and New York in 1920-21 for the first time abroad. The exhibition met with very positive response.
Herman will discuss promotion of Czech film and presentation of Czech literature in Japan with Ryohei Miyata, director of the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
He will also visit the Japanese state television NHK Promotion which has initiated the exhibition of the Slav Epic in cooperation with the Prague City Hall and the Prague Gallery, Cigankova said.
Herman will also meet the director of the National Institute for Cultural Heritage.
Herman’S deputy Katerina Kalistova will have talks with Bohemian studies scholars and translators of Czech literature.
Helena Bezdek Frankova, director of the Czech State Cinematography Fund, will meet the leadership of the Tokio Film Festival.
The Slav Epic, a series of large-scale paintings, left for Japan amid strict security measures in February.
The transport of the cycle drew criticism. Some restorers feared that the paintings may be damaged.
The supporters of the display of the cycle abroad said Mucha supposed that the paintings will travel abroad and that is why he chose corresponding material for them.
The loan of the Slav Epic for the exhibition in Japan was approved by the Culture Ministry.
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