Collection of works from the collections of Kampa Museum
Held by Municipal Museum and Gallery in Svitavy
curator Jiří Machalický
Municipal Museum and Gallery in Svitavy, 18th June - 4th September 2011
Opening on 18th June 2011 at 17 a.m.
Jiří Kolář (24th September 1914 Protivín - 11th August 2002 Prague) was a Czech poet and artist famous worldwide, mainly thanks to his collages and experimental art. He was born in Protivín and spent most of his life in Kladno. In 1932, he learnt the trade of joiner. He worked as a labourer and later as a newspaper editor. During the war, he founded Skupina 42 along with J. Chalupecký, at that time not as an artist, but as a poet. He was also a member of Umělecká beseda. In 1945, he entered the Czech Communist party but left it the same year. In 1952 - 1953 he was imprisoned for his criticism of communism in his collection Prométheova játra (Prometheus' liver), the manuscript of which was found during a house search performed at the literary historian, V. Černý. In 1977, he signed Charta 77. Soon afterwards, in 1979, he and his wife were not allowed to return to Czechoslovakia from his study visit to Western Berlin and therefore he lived in Paris from 1980 onwards. In March 1981, he founded Revui K, a tri-monthly publication and association dedicated to the spreading of Czech and Slovak diaspor art. In 1984, Kolář obtained French citizenship. His works of arts are amongst the most recognised of that time.
In 1990, on the initiative of Jiří Kolář, Václav Havel and painter Theodor Pištěk, Jindřich Chalupecký's Award was established as an annual competition of young artists below 35 years of age.
In 1997, he returned with his wife to Bohemia. Běla Kolářová is one of the most original Czech artists. Co-founder of the group Křižovatka (1963).
Exhibitions 2011 More from the author