1923

24 March

BÄ›la Helclová is born in Terezín, Czechoslovakia, into the family of an army musician.

 

1929

Attends grammar school in the Orlické Mountains in East Bohemia.

 

1933

Her family moves to Újezd nad Lesy where they buy a house.

 

Attends the Grammar School for Girls in Vodičkova Street in Prague.

 

1934

Her father dies.

 

1935

Falls ill with tuberculosis and undergoes long-term medical treatment.

 

1938

Leaves grammar school and attends private business school in Prague.

 

Nazi Germany occupies the Sudetenland (northern and western border regions of Czechoslovakia).

 

1939

16 March

Wehrmacht troops occupy the remainder of Czechoslovakia as Hitler proclaims the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

 

1 September

German invasion of Poland starts the Second World War.

 

1941

Graduates from business school and begins working for the publishing house Mladé proudy, later renamed Dílo.

 

1942

Czech artist collective Skupina 42 [Group 42] is officially founded. JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ is a member.

 

1943

After Mladé proudy is shut down by the authorities, leaves for Zlín to work in the BaÅ¥a shoe factory and avoid forced labour in Germany.

 

1944

Meets JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ in Zlín for the first time.

 

1945

January

Leaves heavily bombed Zlín and returns to Prague.

 

April

Third Republic comes into being with a National Coalition government headed by Edvard Beneš.

 

May

Works in the reopened publishing house Dílo.

 

1947

Announcement of Marshall Plan by the USA ignites the Cold War.

 

1948

Skupina 42 ceases to exist.

 

25 February

Under pressure from Moscow, Beneš appoints Communist Klement Gottwald as Prime Minister.

 

2 June

Beneš resigns from presidency and is succeeded by Gottwald.

 

1949

Marries JiÅ™í KoláÅ™.

Czechoslovakia becomes a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon).

 

1952

December

JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ is arrested and imprisoned for nine months after the manuscript of his collection of poems Prométheova játra [Prometheus's Liver] is found during a police raid on the flat of literary critic Václav ÄŒerný.

 

1955

Starts working with a Flexaret camera purchased by JiÅ™í KoláÅ™.

 

14 May

Czechoslovakia signs the Warsaw Pact.

 

1956

Falls ill again with tuberculosis. Leaves work and focuses on photography.

 

1957

Produces her first photographic series, 'DÄ›tské hry' [Children's Games].

 

1959

Moves to Prague's Vinohrady district where she has her own darkroom.

 

1960

11 July

Czechoslovakia becomes the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (until 1989).

 

1961

Creates her first 'artificial negatives' by pressing microscopic organic matter or small everyday objects onto paraffin-coated sheets of celluloid or inserting them between sheets of cellophane, which then serve as photographic negatives.

 

1962

Creates her first 'light drawings' by projecting light directly onto the photographic paper.

 

Participates in her first group exhibition, Nová jména ve fotografii [New Names in Photography] at Klub výtvarných umÄ›lců Mánes, Prague.

 

1963

Creates her first 'arranged photographs' of everyday objects.

 

Artist collective KÅ™ižovatka [Crossroads] is founded in Prague by JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ and JiÅ™í Padrta.

 

1964

Starts photographing hair and creates her first assemblages.

 

Joins Křižovatka as one of two women artists.

 

March–April

Participates in the first exhibition of KÅ™ižovatka at Galerie Václava Špály, Prague.

 

1965

Participates in the group exhibition Současná fotografie [Contemporary Photography] at Klub výtvarných umÄ›lců Mánes, Prague.

 

27 August–26 September

Participates in the group exhibition Objekt [Object] curated by Eva Petrová at Galerie Václava Špály, Prague.

 

1966

14 January–6 February

Participates in the group exhibition Obraz a písmo [Image and Writing] curated by JiÅ™í Padrta at Galerie Václava Špály, Prague, travelling to Oblastní galerie Vysočiny v JihlavÄ›, Jihlava, and Regionální muzeum Kolín, Kolín.

 

6 May–5 June

Participates in the group exhibition Surrealismus a fotografie [Surrealism and Photography] curated by Václav Zykmund at Dům pánů z Kunštátu – Dům umÄ›ní mÄ›sta Brna, Brno, travelling to Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany.

 

Participates in the group exhibition Arlington-une. Summer '66 at Arlington Mill, Bibury, UK.

 

3 November–27 November

First solo exhibition at Galerie na KarlovÄ› námÄ›stí, Prague.

 

1967

Becomes a candidate member of the Union of Czechoslovak Visual Artists (until 1970).

 

Participates in the group exhibition UmÄ›ní písma/Poesie písma [The Art of Writing/The Poetry of Writing] at Moravské zemské muzeum, Brno.

 

Participates in the group exhibition 11 Künstler aus der Tschechoslowakei [11 Artists from Czechoslovakia] at Studio Willmeroth, Augsburg, Germany.

 

1968

Divorces from JiÅ™í KoláÅ™.

 

Contributes an artist statement to Soudobá fotografie v ÄŒeskoslovensku [Contemporary Photography in Czechoslovakia], an anthology compiled by art historian Anna Fárová.

 

5 January

Reformist Alexander Dubček becomes First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia [KSČ] and initiates a period of liberalisation known as the Prague Spring.

 

10 March–17 April

Participates in the group exhibition Nová citlivost. KÅ™ižovatka a hosté [New Sensitivity. KÅ™ižovatka and Guests] at Dům umÄ›ní mÄ›sta Brna, Brno, travelling to Galerie umÄ›ní Karlovy Vary, Karlovy Vary, and Výstavní síň Mánes, Prague.

 

27 March–12 May

Participates in the group exhibition Klub konkrétistů [Club of Concrete Artists] at Oblastní galerie Vysočiny v JihlavÄ›, Jihlava, travelling to Kulturní stÅ™edisko mÄ›sta Ústí nad Labem, Ústí nad Labem.

 

20–21 August

Warsaw Pact armies invade Czechoslovakia.

 

The exhibition Nová citlivost at Výstavní síň Mánes in Prague is closed prematurely due to the occupation of the building by Soviet troops.

 

1969

16 January

During nonviolent mass protests against Soviet occupation, student Jan Palach immolates himself in Wenceslas Square, Prague.

 

17 April

Gustáv Husák becomes First Secretary of the KSÄŒ and launches counter-reformist policies known as 'Normalisation'.

 

14 August–31 August

Shows arrangements of perishable foodstuffs in the exhibition NÄ›kde nÄ›co [Somewhere Something] alongside work by JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ and the artists' couple Zorka and Jan Ságl at Galerie Václava Špály, Prague.

 

23 September–28 October

Participates in the II. Pražský salon [Second Prague Salon] at U Hybernů, Prague.

 

Exhibits with JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ in the framework of the literary festival neue literatur in hof, Hof, Germany.

 

1970

JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ suffers a stroke.

 

1971

Marries JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ for the second time.

 

1972

The anthology Soudobá fotografie v ÄŒeskoslovensku is seized by censors and destroyed upon its publication.

 

1975

Creates her first make-up drawings.

 

Accompanies JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ to New York for his exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum.

 

11 July–8 August

Participates in the group exhibition Internationale visuele poëzie [International Visual Poetry] at the 't Hoogt, Utrecht, travelling to Galerie de Doelen, Rotterdam, and Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

 

August

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: Fotografie at Minigalerie Výzkumného ústavu veterinárního lékaÅ™ství [Minigallery at Veterinary Research Institute], Brno.

 

1977

1 January

JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ signs the Charter 77 against 'Normalisation'.

 

1978

27 April

Signatories of the Charter 77 found the dissident Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted (Výbor na obranu nespravedlivÄ› stíhaných).

 

1979

Moves to West Berlin with JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ who has been offered a one-year residency by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD.

 

1980

Moves to Paris with JiÅ™í KoláÅ™.

 

1981

After the couple fail to get their visas extended, returns to Prague to sort out their personal affairs and is forbidden to leave the country until 1985. Her husband decides to stay in Paris to attend to his exhibition at Galerie Lelong and will later be condemned in absentia.

 

1982

Becomes a member of the Czech Visual Artists' Fund (until 1984).

 

1984

Participates in the group exhibition Aspects of Czechoslovak Photography at Thackery & Robertson, San Francisco.

 

1985

Obtains permission to leave Czechoslovakia and reunites with her husband in exile in Paris.

 

Participates in the group exhibition Sensibilités contemporaines: 70 artistes d'origine tchèque et slovaque hors Tchécoslavaquie 1970-1984 [Contemporary Sensibilities: Seventy Artists of Czech and Slovak Origin Outside Czechoslovakia] at Librairie La Dérive, Grenoble.

 

1987

Participates in the group exhibition Deuxième exposition annuelle internationale d'art miniature [Second Annual International Exhibition of Miniature Art] at Galerie Del Bello, Toronto.

 

1988

Participates in the group exhibitions Spring '68: Exhibition of Seven Czech Artists, Summer Show and Homage to the Square: Josef Albers and 99 Invited Artists at Flaxman Gallery, London.

 

Participates in the group exhibition Autour de la Revue K [Around Revue K] at Librairie La Lune et les Feux, Paris.

 

Participates in the group exhibition 45 artistes tchèques exposent à Paris au bénéfice du Forum civique [45 Czech Artists Exhibit in Paris for the Benefit of the Civic Forum] at Galerie l'Usine, Paris.

 

1989

15 June–27 August

Participates in the group exhibition Stopadesát fotografíí [One Hundred and Fifty Photographs] at Moravská galerie v BrnÄ›, Brno, travelling to Galerie výtvarného umÄ›ní v HodonínÄ›, Hodonín.

 

9 November

Fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

17 November

Suppression of peaceful student demonstration in Prague by riot police marks the beginning of the Velvet Revolution.

 

10 December

Husák resigns from Presidency.

 

29 December

Playwright and human rights activist Václav Havel is elected President.

 

1990

31 March–27 May

Participates in the group exhibition Anwesenheit bei Abwesenheit – Fotogramme und die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts [Presence of Absence: Photograms and the Art of the Twentieth Century], Schweizerische Stiftung für die Photographie at Kunsthaus Zürich.

 

24 October–24 November

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: Photographies 1956-1964 at Galerie J. & J. Donguy, Paris.

 

1991

4 February–3 March

Participates in the group exhibition ÄŒeský informel: Průkopníci abstrakce z let 1957–1964 [Czech Informal Art: Pioneers of Abstraction] at Galerie hlavního mÄ›sta Prahy and Galerie Václava Špály, Prague, travelling to Severočeská galerie výtvarného umÄ›ní v Litoměřicích, Litoměřice.

 

29 September–24 November

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Galerie U Bílého jednorožce, Klatovy.

 

1992

9 January–3 February

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: Fotografie 1961–1966 at Pražský dům fotografie, Prague.

 

25 February–29 March

Participates in the group exhibition ÄŒeskoslovenská fotografie v exilu (1939–1989) [Czechoslovakian Photography in Exile], Výstavní síň Mánes, Prague.

 

7 April–3 May

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: Fotografie z počátku šedesátých let ze sbírek Moravské galerie v BrnÄ› [Photographs from the Early Sixties from the Collections of the Moravian Gallery] at Moravská galerie v BrnÄ›, Brno.

 

1993

1 January

Czechoslovakia dissolves into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

 

27 October–2 January 1994

Participates in the group exhibition Poesie racionality: Konstruktivní tendence v českém výtvarném umÄ›ní šedesátých let [Poetry of Rationality: Constructivist Tendencies in the Czech Visual Arts from the Sixties] at ÄŒeské muzeum výtvarných umÄ›ní, Prague.

 

1994

Participates in the group exhibition Quatorze artistes autour de la Revue K [Fourteen Artists Around Revue K] at Galerie Le Pont Neuf, Paris.

 

27 May–16 October

Participates in the group exhibition Europa, Europa – Das Jahrhundert der Avantgarde in Mittel- und Osteuropa [The Century of the Avant-Garde in Central and Eastern Europe] at Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn.

 

23 June–12 September

Participates in the group exhibition Nová citlivost [New Sensitivity] at Severočeská galerie výtvarného umÄ›ní v Litoměřicích, Litoměřice, travelling to Východočeská galerie, Pardubice, Oblastní galerie Vysočiny v JihlavÄ›, Jihlava, Moravská galerie v BrnÄ›, Brno, Muzeum umÄ›ní Olomouc, Olomouc, Dům umÄ›ní v OpavÄ›, Opava, Pražákův palác, Brno.

 

1995

15 November–9 December

Participates in the group exhibition Revue K at Galerie J. & J. Donguy, Paris.

 

27 November–12 January 1996

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: Malá retrospektiva [Small Retrospective] at Galerie '60/'70, Prague.

 

1996

13 October–30 November

Participates in the group exhibition ZpÅ™ítomnÄ›ní: PÅ™írůstky galerie z let 1987–1994 [Revitalisation: New Acquisitions], Galerie Klatovy/Klenová, Janovice nad Úhlavou.

 

1997

6 March–13 April

Solo exhibition, BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: práce z let 1956–1996 [Work from 1956 to 1996] at Severočeská galerie výtvarného umÄ›ní v Litoměřicích, Litoměřice, travelling to Dům umÄ›ní mÄ›sta Brna, Brno, and Východočeská Galerie v Pardubicích, Pardubice.

 

7 February–31 December

Participates in the group exhibition Mezi tradicí a experimentem: práce na papíÅ™e a s papírem v českém výtvarném umÄ›ní 1939–1989 [Between Tradition and Experiment: Works on Paper and with Paper in Czech Visual Art] at Muzeum umÄ›ní Olomouc, Olomouc.

 

4 September–16 November

Participates in the group exhibition ÄŒeská koláž [Czech Collage] at Palác Kinských, Prague.

 

1998

11–30 March

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: Neznámé písmo (Fotogramy, derealisace, asambláže 1956–1996) [Unknown Writing (Photograms, Derealisations, Assemblages)] at Galerie U prstenu, Prague.

 

1999

The KoláÅ™s leave Paris and return to Prague for good.

 

27 April–13 June

Exhibits with her husband in JiÅ™í KoláÅ™, BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: VýbÄ›r z tvorby [Selected Works] at Výstavní síň '13', Pilsen.

 

21 October–28 November

Participates in the group exhibition UmÄ›ní zrychleného času: ÄŒeská výtvarná scéna 1958–1968 [Art When Time Accelerated: The Czech Art Scene from 1958 to 1968] at ÄŒeské muzeum výtvarných umÄ›ní v Praze, Prague, travelling to Státní galerie výtvarného umÄ›ní v Chebu, Cheb.

 

24 November–26 March 2000

Participates in the group exhibition Akce, slovo, pohyb, prostor: Experimenty v umÄ›ní šedesátých let [Action, Word, Movement, Space: Experiments in the Art of the Sixties], Galerie hlavního mÄ›sta Prahy, Prague.

 

2001

14 February–18 March

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Galerie JiÅ™ího a BÄ›ly KoláÅ™ových, Prague.

 

31 May–26 August

Participates in the group exhibition Objekt–objekt: Metamorfózy v čase [Object–Object: Metamorphoses in Time], ÄŒeské muzeum výtvarných umÄ›ní v Praze, Prague, travelling to Moravská galerie v BrnÄ›, Brno.

 

14 June–30 September

Participates in the group exhibition Fotografie jako umÄ›ní v ÄŒeskoslovensku let 1959–1968 [Photography as Art in Czechoslovakia], Moravská galerie v BrnÄ›, Brno.

 

2002

15 July–30 September

Participates in the group exhibition Anima Animus (Manželské páry v generaci 60. let) [Married Couples from the Generation of the Sixties], Galerie Zlatá husa, Prague, travelling to Dům umÄ›ní mÄ›sta Brna, Brno.

 

11 August

JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ dies in Prague.

 

Donates JiÅ™í KoláÅ™s's personal collection to Museum Kampa, Prague.

 

2003

27 February–25 May

Participates in the group exhibition UmÄ›ní je abstrakce: ÄŒeská vizuální kultura 60. let [Art is an Abstraction: Czech Visual Culture of the Sixties] at Jízdárna Pražského hradu, Prague, travelling to UmÄ›leckoprůmyslové muzeum, Brno, and Muzeum umÄ›ní Olomouc, Olomouc.

 

16 May–10 August

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki.

 

20 September–2 May 2004

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Egon Schiele Art Centrum, ÄŒeský Krumlov.

 

2004

1 September–10 October

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová: Fotografie a asambláže [Photographs and Assemblages] at Galerie Montanelli – výstavní prostor, Prague.

 

10 September–17 October

Participates in the group exhibition Šedesátá: Ze sbírky Galerie Zlatá husa [The Sixties: From the Collection of Zlatá Husa Gallery] at Dům umÄ›ní mÄ›sta Brna, Brno, travelling to Galerie umÄ›ní Karlovy Vary, Karlovy Vary.

 

21 October–28 November

Participates in the exhibition Jeden život, dvÄ› díla: BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová, JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ [One Life, Two Works], Galerie Františka Drtikola, PÅ™íbram.

 

2005

4–24 April

Participates in the group exhibition Emigration out/in 1: BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová, JiÅ™í KoláÅ™, Radek Kratina, Hugo Demartini at Saarländische Galerie – Europäisches Kunstforum e.V., Berlin.

 

23 June–9 October

Participates in the group exhibition ÄŒeská fotografie 20. století [Czech Photography of the Twentieth Century] at Galerie hlavního mÄ›sta Prahy, Prague.

 

19 October–4 November

Participates in the exhibition Pokušení a pokoušení: BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová, JiÅ™í KoláÅ™ [Temptation and Tempting], Studio Paměť, Prague.

 

2006

27 January–9 April

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Národní galerie v Praze (Sbírka moderního a současného umÄ›ní, Veletržní palác), Prague.

 

27 September–31 December

Solo exhibition Experiment, Å™ád, důvÄ›rnost: Ženské rastry BÄ›ly KoláÅ™ové [Experiment, Order, Intimacy: The Feminine Patterns of BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová] at Muzeum umÄ›ní Olomouc, Olomouc.

 

2007

16 June–23 September

Participates in documenta 12 in Kassel.

 

2008

26 April–4 June

Participates in the group exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová/Falke Pisano/Janice Kerbel/Sofie Thorsen at Galerie Krobath Wimmer, Vienna.

 

15 July–24 August

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Museum Kampa, Prague.

 

23 September–29 November

Participates in the group exhibition Cutting Realities: Gender Strategies in Art at Austrian Cultural Forum, New York.

 

2009

27 May–21 February 2011

Participates in the group exhibition elles@ centrepompidou, artistes femmes dans les collections du Centre Pompidou [Women Artists in the Collection of Centre Pompidou] at Centre Pompidou – Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.

 

29 September–31 January 2010

Participates in the group exhibition MuMo Opening at Muzeum Montanelli, Prague.

 

23 October–5 December

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich.

 

13 November–14 February 2010

Participates in the group exhibition Gender Check – Rollenbilder in der Kunst Osteuropas [Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe] at mumok, Vienna.

 

2010

5 March–2 May

Solo exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová at Galerie Fotografie Louvre, Prague.

 

12 April

BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová dies in Prague.

 

20 May–25 July

Her work is shown in the group exhibition Unto This Last at Raven Row, London.

 

2011

12 February–26 March

Her work is shown in the exhibition BÄ›la KoláÅ™ová & Lucie Stahl at Galerie der Stadt Schwaz, Austria, travelling to Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne.

 

13 May–18 June

Her work is shown in the exhibition Curated by_Marie Klimešová at Galerie Krobath, Vienna.

 

15 July–1 October

Her work is shown in the group exhibition Live Your Questions Now, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow.

 

2012

25 October–31 March 2013

Her work is shown in the exhibition Od Tiziana po Warhola: Muzeum umÄ›ní Olomouc 1951–2011 [From Titian to Warhol: Olomouc Museum of Art 1951–2011], Muzeum umÄ›ní Olomouc, Olomouc.

 

6 December–3 March 2013

Her work is shown in the group exhibition Element F: Fotografie a umÄ›ní ve druhé polovinÄ› 20. století [The Ph Factor: Photography and Fine Art in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century] at Moravská galerie v BrnÄ›, Brno.

 

2013

31 January–7 April

Retrospective exhibition at Raven Row, London.