User:Ellie Deutz/sandbox

Early life and education
Jetelová was born in Semily, in the former Czechoslovakia. She studied sculpture at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts from 1965–1971, and she briefly studied abroad at the Brera Academy in Milan in 1967 and 1968, under the Italian sculptor Marino Marini.

Early work
Jetelová’s earlier works were made when she was residing in the former Czechoslovakia, in the 1970s and early 1980s. The communist regime that was enforced after the Prague Spring in 1968, ordered for “official” art only; art that was to be produced for the state. Jetelova along with some other Czech Artists refused this, and continued making art for themselves, unofficially and underground. These works by Jetelova and other rebelling Czech artists were predominantly made out of everyday materials and were exhibited in unconventional spaces such as, apartments, gardens and basements. From being forced to make art in non-standard environments, Jetelova developed an unique process concerning spatial and perceptual transformations, responding to the specificity of each site.

A lot of these earlier works were direct responses to her environment in communist Czechoslovakia. In her project ‘Marking by Red Smoke’ (Prague, 1983-85), she put on red smoke events in her studio in Tichá Šárka and in various derelict houses. This was to symbolise the expansion of the Soviet Union and the oppressive communist regime that was brought to Czechoslovakia.

Relocation to Germany
Jetelova relocated to West Germany in 1985. In Czechoslovakia she had been relatively isolated from the international art world, and the Czech avant-garde had become dispersed. In Germany she was influenced by the Post-Modernism and minimalist movements and developed her work from these influences whilst keeping the unique and powerful vocabulary she acquired in Prague. Her work also grew more expressive after her relocation to Germany as she found new freedoms and access to information. Gradually, she discarded representational components In her works.

Early life[edit]
Flora Lion was born in London to Jewish Anglo-Franco parents. Her family was related to the Solomon family, a wealthy and cultured Jewish family that produced artists Solomon Joseph Solomon and Lily Delissa Joseph. She studied art at the St. John's Wood Art School in 1894 before receiving further training at the Royal Academy of Arts Schools between 1895 and 1899, where she was under the training of John Singer Sargent. Lion then attended the Académie Julian in Paris throughout 1899 and 1900. From 1900 onwards she exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1915 she married the journalist and artist Ralph Amato, who adopted her surname. She was more of a successful artist then Ralph, and he was described in one source at the time as the husband of Flora Lion. This was rare for this period as it was usual for women to be defined my their husband’s profession.

World War One
During the First World War Lion was commissioned by the Ministry of Information to paint factory scenes on the home front. The Ministry issued permits for Lion to paint in factories in Leeds and Bradford.

In Leeds she painted a factory where wooden flying-boats were under construction. Flying boats where used in WW1 a lot by the British, particularly in locating German U-boats. Despite how modern and sophisticated flying-boats were for the time, they were still constructed using traditional, labour-heavy methods. Flora Lion depicts male worker making and fixing pieces for the aircraft, looking quiet and reserved.

In Bradford Lion painted women working in a munitions factory, but unusually depicted them during a meal break in their works canteen, which were a war-time innovation for Britain. Although several of the women in the painting are clearly tired the overall impression is one of great confidence among the women workers. This contrasts to Lion’s portrayal of the male workers.

Both paintings were completed in 1918 by which time Ministry of Information had been wound up and the Imperial War Museum had taken over the MoI artist's scheme. However, the IWM had little, if any, money available to purchase new artworks and so refused to accept the paintings despite Lion offering them at only 150 guineas each. In 1927, with financial assistance from a patron who bought one of the paintings from Lion, the two works were presented to the Museum.

Lion was also one of three women artists, alongside Anna Airy and Dorothy Coke, considered for commissions by the British War Memorials Committee but the BWMC did not acquire any paintings from any of them.