Alena Kučerová (born 1935) is a Czech printmaker.

Life

A native of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Kučerová studied at that city's Advanced School of Graphic Art from 1950 until 1954. From 1955 until 1959 she attended the Prague Academy of Applied Arts.

Work

In the 1960s she began using the traditional medium of printmaking in an experimental manner. She is especially noted for her technique of building the image using dots before incorporating other forms. Around 1965 she began perforating metal with a shoemaker's awl, printing the motifs created and also exhibiting the perforated tin matrixes as art in their own right. Many of the perforated tins exhibit figurative references. Further experimentation with materials and strong color led her to embrace the aesthetics of Pop Art. Five works by Kučerová are in the collection of the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

. Two are owned by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, and one is held by the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

Awards and distinctions

* Biennale des Jeunes, Paris, mention d'honneur (1965) * Premio internazionale Biella per l'incisione, Italy (1967) * Award of the Czech Writers' Association (1967) * Cena Vladimíra Boundníka, Foundation Inter-Kontakt-Grafik, Czech Republic (1997)

References

1935 births Living people Women printmakers 20th-century Czech printmakers 20th-century Czech women artists 20th-century Czech artists 21st-century Czech printmakers 21st-century Czech women artists Artists from Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague alumni {{CzechRepublic-artist-stub