Božena Jelínková-Jirásková

Božena Jelínková-Jirásková (10 June 1880 – 5 September 1951) was a Czech artist, known in particular for her still lifes. She lived for many years in Paris and exhibited both there and in Czechoslovakia.

Early life Jelínková-Jirásková was born on 10 June 1880 in Litomyšl in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, where her father, the writer Alois Jirásek, taught at a grammar school. Her mother was Marie Podhajská, and Božena was the first of the couple's children. In 1888, she moved with her family to the Czech capital, Prague. After attending middle school, she completed training at a school of the Czech Women's Manufacturing Association and then enrolled at the School of Applied Arts, graduating in 1904, with teachers who included the painter, Jakub Schikaneder. She then took private lessons with the painter Antonín Slavíček.

Career

In 1905, Jelínková-Jirásková married the then theatre critic Hanuš Jelínek, travelling around Europe with him and then spending time in France, where he became a lecturer on Czech literature at the Sorbonne in 1909. After World War I, the couple returned to Paris in January 1919, when her husband accompanied the Czechoslovak delegation to the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) before obtaining a job at the Czechoslovak Press Office in Paris and, from 1926, a diplomatic posting. After he obtained this position, they began to organise fortnightly tea parties attended by Czech residents in Paris and Czech visitors to the city. At least part of the reason for these events was her husband's aim to try to overcome her homesickness. The teas were held on Fridays and were attended by 40 to 50 guests. The exhibition moved to Prague in the summer of 1937, under the title of Women Artists of Europe Exhibit at the Prague Exhibition. Her next solo exhibition took place in 1940. These paintings reflected a return home to the Czech landscape; Jelínková-Jirásková finding inspiration in the summer residence of the Jirásek family in Hronov, the mountain villages around Harrachov, and in her husband's birthplace of Příbram. She continued to exhibit until her death.

Death and legacy Jelínková-Jirásková died on 5 September 1951 in Hronov. A retrospective of her work was held in 1953 at the Práce Gallery in Prague.

Gallery