Juliana Jirousová (17 September 1943 – 25 August 2023) was a Czech artist and painter, known for her paintings of

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

s. Jirousová was an anti-Communist dissident during the

communist era A communist era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and a signatory of

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members ...

. Her former husband, poet Ivan Martin Jirous, was also a dissident and major figure in the

underground movement During World War II, resistance movements operated in German-occupied Europe by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...

during the Normalization period.

Biography

Jirousová was born Juliana Stritzková in Stará Říše on 17 September 1943 to a strongly religious

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family. Her parents, Marie Stritzková-Florianová and Otto Maria Stritzko, were both artists and painters who passed on their artistic interests to their daughter. Jirousová's maternal grandfather, Josef Florian, was a prominent Catholic publisher and thinker. She graduated from secondary school in

Telč Telč (; ) is a town in Jihlava District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,100 inhabitants. The town is well known for its historic centre, which is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservatio ...

in the early 1960s, but was not allowed to continue higher education due to political pressure from the communist authorities. In response, she worked in several jobs and began painting, leading to her career as an artist. One of her early jobs involved painting with psychiatric patients at a hospital in

Havlíčkův Brod Havlíčkův Brod (, until 1945 Německý Brod; ) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban mon ...

as a form of

art therapy Art therapy is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art therapy, as a creative arts therapy profession, originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. Art ...

. Jirousová moved to Prague for work, where she met Ivan Martin Jirous, a poet, dissident, and leading figure in the Prague underground movement, in 1972. Jirousová married Jirous in 1976 (his second marriage). The couple had two daughters, Františka Jirousová (born 1980), who became a novelist, and Františka Jirousová
Marta Veselá Jirousová (born 1981), a poet and teacher. Both Juliana Jirousová and her husband signed Charter 77 and she raised their daughters while he was imprisoned for anti-communist activities during the 1970s and 1980s. Jirousová was placed under

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

by the secret police for much of this time. Their marriage ended soon after his release from prison. Jirous died in 2011. Juliana Jirousová died on 25 August 2023, at the age of 79. Her funeral was held in Stará Říše.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jirousova, Juliana 1943 births 2023 deaths Czech painters Czechoslovak dissidents Charter 77 signatories Czechoslovak painters 20th-century Czech painters 21st-century Czech painters Catholic painters People from Jihlava District 20th-century women painters 21st-century Czech women painters