Jiří Kolář

Jiří Kolář (1914–2002) was a Czech poet, writer, and visual artist renowned for his innovative collage techniques, which he developed into a highly personal vocabulary of artistic methods. He invented numerous collage variants—such as 'chiasmage,' 'crumplage,' and 'rollage'—that involved cutting, folding, and reassembling printed texts and images to create layered, visually complex works. A central figure in Czech avant-garde culture, Kolář used found printed matter to explore language, memory, and the relationship between text and image, earning international recognition as one of the most inventive collagists of the 20th century.