Adriena Šimotová (1926–2014) was a prominent Czech artist. Known for her work with paper and fabric, she held numerous exhibitions in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and abroad during her lifetime including a retrospective organized by the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in Prague in 2001.

Biography

Šimotová graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Her early work of the 1960s was exhibited at venues including the

Václav Špála Gallery The Václav Špála Gallery (Czech: Galerie Václava Špály) is a Prague gallery of mostly contemporary art. It is located at no. 59/30 Národní třída, in the New Town of Prague (Praha 1 – Nové Město). The gallery holds exhibitions particu ...

and the Sao Paulo biennial. She was a founding member of the Czech art group UB 12, along with

Václav Boštík Václav Boštík (6 November 1913 – 7 May 2005) was a Czech painter, graphic artist and illustrator. In 1937 he joined the Academy in Prague and from 1942, he was a member of the ''Umělecká beseda'' (Art Forum). In 1960 he became one of ...

, Stanislav Kolíbal, and others. After her husband's death in 1972, she shifted her artistic focus away from painting and began to use fabrics and sculptural installations. Due to the Czech Republic's political circumstances in the 1970s and 1980s, much of Šimotová's work at the time was shown on an unofficial basis or subject to censorship. Šimotová received the French honor the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

in 1991 and the Czech

Medal of Merit Several countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit: * Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) * Medal of Merit (Denmark) * Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman * Medal of Merit of the National People's Army (East Germany) * Medal of M ...

in 1997. In 2000, she received the

Herder Prize The Herder Prize (german: Gottfried-von-Herder-Preis), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Sout ...

. Today, several of her works are held in the permanent collection of the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

. She received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 2007. Šimotová died in 2014 at the age of 87.

Collections

* National Gallery in Prague *

Galerie Rudolfinum The Rudolfinum is a building in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Since its opening in 1885, it has been associated with music and art. Curr ...

* Museum Kampa *

References

External links

Profile at Galerie U Betlémské

Images from the series ''A Touch of Colour – The Assumption''

Short documentary featuring Šimotová
- in Czech {{DEFAULTSORT:Šimotová, Adriena 20th-century Czech painters Czech women painters Czech graphic designers 21st-century Czech painters 20th-century Czech printmakers 20th-century printmakers 21st-century printmakers Czech women graphic designers 1926 births 2014 deaths Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague alumni