Jiri Kolar was a Czechoslovakian poet, artist and political activist. Originally trained as a carpenter, he began creating collages and ‘Chiasmages’, images which he cut up and joined together again. He was incarcerated for his opposition to the regime. Kolar was one of the signees of the Charta 77. After a year in Berlin and a study trip to Paris, he was denied re-entry and denationalized in 1979. He returned to France and became a French citizen. Kolar was invited to documenta in Kassel in 1968 and 1977. He was one of the most influential artists of the Czech Republic, where he returned in 1997.
