Database
Zbyněk Sekal
Born July 12 1923, PragueLived in Prague (1923 – 1952)
Lived in Bratislava (1953 – 1958)
Lived in Prague (1958 – 1968)
Lived in Berlin (1969)
Lived in Vienna (1970 – 1998)
Died February 24 1998, Vienna
One of the most interesting Czech artists of the 1950s and 1960s. In spite of being closely linked to European cultural tradition, philosophy and literature, he did not align himself with any particular movement, tendency or group and remained strongly independent throughout his career. From 1970 he lived in Vienna, where his work went through further remarkable developments. He approached the worked material with an awareness of physical existence, deliberation and rigour. The strong background of thought reflected the artist’s life experiences, as well as his considerations and translations of literary works which concerned him.
sculpture, drawing, painting, graphics, collage, object, assemblage, books cover design
1934
studied at a high school and trade college
1941
17th November arrested for his activity in an illegal communist youth group, imprisoned at Pankrác and Terezín, from 6. 2. 1942 to 5. 5. 1945 at the Mauthausen concentration camp
1945
1946
Not Without Her (drawing)
Untitled (drawing)
Untitled (Mill) (drawing)
Untitled (Salomon) (drawing)
Untitled (Salomon) (drawing)
1947
in Paris for the first time
1950
Untitled (Smoker) (drawing)
1951
worked as an editor in the Publishing House of Political Literature (later named Svoboda)
1954
Untitled (drawing)
1955
1958
Big Bird (drawing)
1960
Untitled (drawing)
1964
Gmunden Ceramics Symposium (public program, Gmunden)
1965
Gmunden Ceramics Symposium (public program, Gmunden)
Zbyněk Sekal (solo exhibition, Prague)
Zbyněk Sekal: Sculptures - Reliefs. 1948–1965 (solo exhibition, Brno)
Zbyněk Sekal (solo exhibition, Prague)
Zbyněk Sekal: Sculptures - Reliefs. 1948–1965 (solo exhibition, Brno)
1966
Everyman (painting)
International Sculptural Symposium (public program, Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland)
1967
International Sculpture Symposium (public program, Vyšné Ružbachy)
1969
on 13th September left for West Berlin using a scholarship from DAAD, the stay resulted in his final decision to emigrate
Received grant from DAAD – German Academic Exchange Services
Zbyněk Sekal: Assembled Paintings and Scupltures (solo exhibition, Prague)
1970
created a large sculptural relief in the house of David Hansemann in Düsseldorf
from September 1970 lived in Vienna till the end of his life
1972
Worked at State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart
1973
Painter's Week in Eisenstadt (public program, Eisenstadt )
1974
became a member of the Wiener Secession
1977
created a stone altar, ambon and tabernacle in the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lustenau, Vorarlberg, Austria
Zbyněk Sekal: Assembled Paintings, Drawings (solo exhibition, Graz)
1980
Received grant from Stedelijk Museum
1984
Received award from Prize of the city of Vienna for sculpture
1985
Untitled (sculpture)
1989
first journey to Japan
1991
Zbyněk Sekal (solo exhibition, Salzburg)
1992
Zbynek Sekal: Some Works from the Years 1940-1992 (solo exhibition, Brno)
1993
Zbyněk Sekal: Sculptures and Assembled Paintings (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
1994
became seriously ill
1997
Zbyněk Sekal: Work over the past fifty-five years (solo exhibition, Prague)
2002
Zbyněk Sekal (solo exhibition, Krems)
2003
Zbyněk Sekal: Sculptures and Reliefs 1959–1994 (solo exhibition, Prague)
2014
Sekal and Japan (solo exhibition, Plzeň)
2015
on the 19th February the National Gallery in Prague opened a reconstruction of Sekal's last studio in Vienna as part of its permanent exhibition of modern and contemporary art
Sekal Studio (solo exhibition, Prague)
Zbyněk Sekal | Things Are Moving Forward Slowly (solo exhibition, Olomouc)
Zbyněk Sekal | Things Are Moving Forward Slowly (solo exhibition, Olomouc)
2017
Young Sekal / Drawings, not only from the camp (solo exhibition, Terezín)
2018
Zbyněk Sekal 95 (solo exhibition, Mikulov)
2019
Culmination / The Apex of Czech Fine Art (group exhibition, Prague)