Adriena Šimotová
1926–2014 · Czech artist known for paper and fabric works
Adriena Šimotová (1926-2014) was a Czech artist best known for her work with paper and fabric. She trained at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, and her work was shown widely in the Czech Republic and abroad, including a retrospective organized by the National Gallery in Prague in 2001.
In the 1960s she exhibited at venues such as the Václav Špála Gallery and the São Paulo Biennial. She was a founding member of the Czech art group UB 12, alongside Václav Boštík, Stanislav Kolíbal and others. After her husband died in 1972, she gradually moved away from painting and began using fabrics and sculptural installations.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the political situation in Czechoslovakia meant that much of her work was shown unofficially or was subject to censorship. She received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1991, the Czech Medal of Merit in 1997 and the Herder Prize in 2000. Several of her works are held in the permanent collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou, and in 2007 she received an honorary doctorate from the Academy in Prague. She died in 2014, aged 87.