The return of Mongolian wild horses in Jan Sovák’s extraordinary exhibition

As a part of the project ‘The Return of the Wild Horses 2019’, Prague Zoo hosts the painter Jan Sovák’s exhibition of sketches and more elaborate paintings ‘How Freedom is Returned to Wild Horses: From the Sketchbook of the Painter Jan Sovák’ in the yurt at the upper cableway station. The artwork documents the painter’s journey with Przewalski's horses to Mongolia.

Prague Zoo has been running the project for the past several years. ‘The Return of the Wild Horses 2019’ brings Przewalski's horses, also called Mongolian wild horses, back to Mongolia, the country of their origin. The academic painter Jan Sovák travelled with horses and their breeders during the last trip, in order to capture the atmosphere and document the journey. The painter had a close relationship with animals in general and horses in particular – when he was young. In his youth, he worked with horses although not with the wild ones.

“The transport of Przewalski's horses by an army aircraft CASA has been attended by many photographers and cameramen in recent years, and I felt it would be great to document it also in another way, ” explains the director of Prague Zoo Miroslav Bobek.

An artist inspired by Burian

Jan Sovák, an academic painter and illustrator, is a native of Prague but has lived since the 1980s in the Canadian province of Alberta. His work is often devoted to animals, and he is one of the world’s best paleo-artists. Paleo-artists are artists who depict prehistoric times through their art work. His inspiration in paleo-art comes from Zdeněk Burian.

His art work is exhibited in well-known museums in Europe, Asia and America. Some of his most famous and interesting works are included in an extensive paleontological exposition at the National Museum in Prague. Sovák is also interested in composing film music, animating and writing books.

Przewalski's horses in the Prague Zoo yurt

Sovák’s Prague exhibition ‘How Freedom is Returned to Wild Horses’ has a subtitle ‘From the Sketchbook of the Painter Jan Sovák’. It captures the transport of Przewalski horses from the Czech Republic to Mongolia, sketches and painting are complemented by the author’s handwritten comments.

The exhibition in a stylish yurt at the Przewalski's horse enclosure at the top of Prague Zoo will run until May 2020.

For further information, please visit: https://www.zoopraha.cz/en.