Jiri Kolar (Protivín, 1914 - Prague, 2002) was one of the most important postwar poets/visual artists in Central Europe. A member of the avant-garde Group 42, most of his major texts were composed in the 1950s and 1960s. He is, however, more well known internationally for his collage innovation, developing a number of techniques for combining and manipulating scraps of texts and images from a variety of sources to portray the destruction and fragmentation of the world around him. A signatory of Charter 77, Kolář lived in exile in Paris from 1980, but spent the final years of his life in Prague. Jiri Kolar (Protivín, 1914 - Prague, 2002) was one of the most important postwar poets/visual artists in Central Europe. A member of the avant-garde Group 42, most of his major texts were composed in the 1950s and 1960s. He is, however, more well known internationally for his collage innovation, developing a number of techniques for combining and manipulating scraps of texts and images from a variety of sources to portray the destruction and fragmentation of the world around him. A signatory of Charter 77, Kolář lived in exile in Paris from 1980, but spent the final years of his life in Prague.