The new wall calendar for 2025 of the Committee of Good Will – Olga Havlova Foundation (VDV) will help people with health disabilities. The author of the drawings depicting Olga and Václav Havel is the talented painter and illustrator Adéla Marie Jirků. When creating drawings, she was inspired by the photographs of Bohdan Holomíček and Ondřej Němek.
The christening ceremony of the calendar took place in October in the Václav Havel Library. VDV director Monika Granja, photographer Ondřej Němec, and a close friend of Mrs. Olga, editor of the Václav Havel Library, Anna Freimanová acted as godparents. Proceeds from the calendar sale will be used to pay for compensation and health aids.
Adela Marie Jirků’s drawings depict various moments from the life of Olga Havel, whether in the role of the wife of the dissident Václav Havel or later the wife of the president or the chairperson of the Committee of Good Will.
“Our foundation’s cooperation with Adéla began last year when we approached her to create illustrations for a video spot for Olga Havelová’s late ninetieth birthday,” says VDV director Monika Granja and adds: “We believe that the portraits inspired by the photos of Olga’s “court” photographers and Václav will once again remind the public of the life and legacy of these two exceptional personalities. With Christmas approaching, the calendar can thus not only be a beautiful gift, but also an opportunity to help people with health disabilities.”
The author of the drawings, Adéla Marie Jirků (*1985), a gifted painter and illustrator, is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague with study experience from the Illustration studio at the University of Applied Arts and a one-year internship at the École supérieure d´art & de design Marseille-Méditerranée. In 2022, the wo-men publishing house published her author’s book Mařka, which won the SČUG Hollar Prize for its excellent illustration in the Most Beautiful Books of 2022 competition.
“When creating the illustrations, I approached the photographs with the utmost respect. We will not experience any more moments with Václav and Olga Havel, so I tried to put a new coat on the photos that we have already seen at many exhibitions and give them a story that would form a continuous line,” explained Adéla Marie Jirků about her motivation for creating the calendar.
The calendar is available at the VDV headquarters at Senovážné náměstí 2, Prague 1.
The price is 700 Kc, which is a donation.
In case of questions and interest, please contact:
Terezia Jenisová
PR and communication manager
Goodwill Committee – Olga Havel Foundation
M: +420 606 736 657,
E: jenisova@vdv.cz, W: www.vdv.cz