“In that Union there was a jury, which consisted of renowned artists. Whenever there was an exhibition, this jury decided about everything. Naturally there were the members of the Union. And the others had no chance. So there were no exhibitions for them. Many people, therefore, worked and did not exhibit. Then there were the so-called underground events, people exhibited in studios. I had about a two-day exhibition in a studio in Prague-Smíchov. The building was being pulled down, it was quite empty. And I think it helped me a lot. It was absurd. And there was a circle of people who went there. A culture was created against the official one and it was rather interesting.”
"But as a personality – this was a negation, no one was allowed to stick out from an average. Our father wanted us to attend the religion classes. This was an optional subject. This was still while we were at Kladská. There was one more boy who attended with us. And we spoiled the reputation of the school for the headmaster. He asked our father to take us away from the class. Our father, however, said that he wished his children to attend religion. So they moved us to a different school."
“I have drawn from an early age. All the time. I enjoyed it so much. And I kept drawing horses. It must have been a mania of sorts. I even cut them out of newspapers and journals, stuck them in a book and drew. Then I rode a horse with my brother for about ten years. Horses unleashed some art talent in me and I stayed with it. But it all began with the horses.”
Jitka Svobodová was born on September 9, 1941, in Prague. She enjoyed drawing since childhood. In 1959 she graduated of the Secondary Industrial School of Interior Design. Twice she applied, unsuccessfully, for the Academy of Arts. She was not accepted because of her cadre profile, as her father, Jiří Svoboda, lost his solicitor company in February 1948. She was eventually accepted in 1961 and graduated in 1967. Her work, however, did not correspond to styles officially accepted during the normalisation. She had no opportunity to exhibit, therefore she opted for the post-graduate study of restoration. She made her living by restoration till 1989. After the November revolution she became the boss of the drawing studio at the Academy of Art. Jitka Svobodová died on May 15th, 2023.
