"Živý květ jara", či nový koncept? : Sběratelská reflexe tvorby Adrieny Šimotové v socialistickém Československu v letech 1965–1980 : nástin problematiky

In a review of Adriena Šimotová's first independent exhibition at the Czechoslovak Writers Gallery (Galerie Československý spisovatel) in 1965, Jiří Šetlík described the painter's work as ‘the living flower of the Prague spring of exhibitions'. This phrase symbolises the starting point from which in the middle of the 1970s, after a personal tragedy, her art turned in a different and qualitatively new conceptual and material direction and she began creating textile collages, with interpersonal communication as its subject matter, and then paper reliefs. How much did the newly emerging generation of private collectors of contemporary art and art museums respond to the body of work she created between 1965 and 1980? Among the first figures to fully appreciate Šimotová's art as a collector were gallery-owner Meda Mládková and poet Jiří Kolář. Important textile collages from Šimotová's groundbreaking The Definition of Man (Vymezení člověka) cycle (1977) became part of the collections of Jiří Valoch and Milan Weber. One of the first large-scale paper reliefs was acquired by architect Josef Chloupek. These individuals also organised local shows during this difficult time when her work could not be exhibited in any major centre. Although public art museums began acquiring her work earlier, they focused conservatively on her more traditional work as a painter in the 1960s.