Greetings from a Distant Country, Greetings to a Distant Land

The interest of the sculptor Zbyněk Sekal (1923–1998) in Japanese culture and society is well documented in his diary from his sojourn in Japan in January and February 1989. It was reciprocated by a spontaneous expression of admiration by the Japanese for Sekal’s artistic path in which they observed many kindred features. This publication seeks out the connections not simply in the most immediate formal affinities but in the juxtaposition of Sekal’s character and work to the aesthetic and cultural principles of Japanese art, above all to Zen culture and its understanding of beauty. The book has been published on the occasion of the exhibition Sekal and Japan taking place in the West Bohemian Gallery in Plzeň.