Photographs of tea cultures in Asia

December 6, 2008 - March 8, 2009 / Exhibition hall, 2nd floor, Zbraslav Chateau

Artist: Zdeněk Thoma

Curator: Helena Honcoopová

Main partner of the NG: UNICREDIT BANK

Sponsor of the NG: SYNOT LOTTO a.s.

Main media partner: Hospodářské noviny

Partners: Neternity

Media partners: Classic FM, ČRo 3 - Vltava, AnoPress

Zdeněk Thoma, one of the classic Czech adventurers, celebrated his 70th birthday this year (born Sept. 2, 1938 in Prague) in full vigor. Although he is not an Oriental art treasure hunter, he has visited Asia all his life on the hunt for photographs. He has traveled to cities, gardens and mountains to acquaint us with the cultures of Japan, China, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Bali and other regions he loves. He teaches us to see Asian nature and people through the adventurer's eyes at a time when travel is easy and seemingly accessible to anyone. Thoma, however, continues to take demanding and dangerous trips, risking his life to capture places and moments an ordinary tourist could not find.

He writes books about his travels and illustrates them with shots from his Pentax camera. He has also been praised as the co-author (Soňa, Zdeněk and Michal Thoma) of the spectacular publication The Story of Tea (Příběh čaje; Argo 2002). "The worst thing about traveling is the traveling," says Zdeněk Thoma. He tirelessly displays his photographs in venues large and small in Bohemia and Moravia for people not as lucky as he when it comes to travel, and often accompanies his photographic cycles with lectures. When asked what qualities a traveler should have, he replies: "Above all, a stomach of concrete and buttocks of iron. Only on your travels do you find out whether or not you have them. You probably had qualities such as courage, endurance, stamina, good health and a strong will before you set out to travel." And he adds: "There is nothing good about adventure - at least until it's over."

Zdeněk Thoma spent seven years of his life on his many trips to Asia; he wrote three travel books and hundreds of articles, published many books of thematic photographs about various aspects of Asian culture (such as Japanese and Chinese gardens, ikebana, bonsai, Buddhist sites, the Himalaya, Borobodur Temple etc.) and held 76 thematic exhibitions of his best pictures in the Czech Republic and abroad. For his 77th display - this time in the National Gallery in Prague's Zbraslav Chateau - he chose 66 photographs capturing the milieu, habits and rituals of tea growing and tea drinking in Japan and Sri Lanka. He has called the exhibition On the Tea Road and it will be held at Zbraslav Chateau on the occasion of his 70th birthday from December 6, 2008 to March 8, 2009. The display will present his achievements of the last decade, during which he focused on paths along the Tea Road, a route more important to tea addicts and adorers in Europe today than the ancient Silk Road. Zdeněk Thoma's lifelong work has trodden a path connecting the cultures of Asia and Europe and for that he deserves our gratitude.

Helena Honcoopová

Exhibition of Asian Art, Collection of Oriental Art, the National Gallery in Prague

Zbraslav Chateau, Prague 5 - Zbraslav, Bartoňova 2

Opening hours 

Tuesdays - Sundays from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m.

Admission

• To the permanent exhibition, including the short-term exhibitions - regular 80 CZK, reduced 40 CZK, family 120 CZK (40/20/60 CZK after 4 p. m.)
• Exhibitions only - regular 40 CZK, reduced 20 CZK, family 60 CZK.

Transport: Subway B - line, station: Smíchovské nádraží; bus No. 129, 241, 243, 314, 318, 390, stop: Zbraslavské náměstí; from Jižní Město and Radotín, bus No. 165, stop: Zbraslavské náměstí; by train from the Vršovice, Bráník or Modřany railway station; by car by Strakonická Road No. 4 and 101, exit: Zbraslav.

Educational Department programs can be booked by phone at 420 257 920 481 (answering machine) or e-mail: asiaedu@ngprague.cz

Contacts for journalists: Petra Jungwirthová, Head of the Press and Public Relations Department of the National Gallery in Prague

Ph.: 420 222 32 14 59, cell ph.: 420 606 166 513; e-mail: jungwirthova@ngprague.cz