Ellen Jilemnická

Ellen Jilemnická (*1946, Hradec Králové) is a Czech sculptor, draughtswoman, poet and university teacher. After graduating from the Secondary School of Applied Arts for Sculpture in Hořice she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under Professor Karel Hladík. From 1992 to 1996 she headed the sculpture programme at the Secondary Technical School of Stonemasonry and Sculpture in Hořice, and later worked as professor of sculpture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

Her work encompasses monumental stone sculpture, small-scale sculpture, drawing and poetry. It is marked by a sensitive relationship to the material, an emphasis on purity of form and a joining of the sculptural tradition with a poetics of her own. She has received a number of awards for her work, among them the studio prize of the Academy of Fine Arts (1970), the Kámen magazine prize (1999) and awards in competitions for major works in public space, including the design for the Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Prague.