Anna Chromy

Born 1940 in Bohemia, I was the youngest of four girls and the only one to have inherited the artistic talent of my father. My family had to move to Vienna after the war and I remember an emotional adieu on the Charles Bridge in Prague. My fondest images from my early years are of beautiful architechture, Renaissance castles and Baroque churches.

I always loved to paint, but was unable to afford to attend art school until I was married and moved to Paris in the sixties. There a whole new set of influences overwhelmed me - the Louvre, la "Civilisation Francaise" with their writers and prolific philosophers, and foreign artists like Dal and Picasso, who had chosen the "City of Lights" as their home. I had to transform this shock into paintings if I did not want to implode. So I decided to attend the Beaux Arts and Academy de la Grande Chaumire, both close to each other on the left bank of the River Seine.

After 30 years of painting I had a severe accident which prevented me from painting for six years. In that time, and with little patience to wait, I decided to take up sculpture instead.

By that time we had moved and were living on the Cte dAzur, close to the Italian border. The centre of Sculpture in Pietrasant...

My paintings, all in oil on canvas, have been largely of a surrealist nature and I drew early inspiration from Ernst, Magritte and Dali. I was fortunate to have been studying art when I did. The sixties was a magical time for artists and there can be few such inspirational cities as Paris in which to pursue it. There I attended Beaux Arts and Academy de la Grande Chaumire.

Following one of my exhibitions, in 1979, I was invited to meet Salvadore Dali and, for such a renowned chauvinist, I felt proud that he should take the time to look at my art and admit finally that some women could paint after all!

More recently, I have held exhibitions of my large sculptural pieces all over Europe and in China. These are suitible for showing outdoors and in large halls and museums. Following is a list of the most recent:

2000: Prague. The Sound of Bronze
2004: Pietrasanta. "Il Canto di Orpheo" (Orpheus' Song)
2005: Guangzhou Art Fair
2005: Paris. "Le Myth D'Europe", Place Vendme
2007: Athens. "Mythos Revisited", National Archeological Museum
2009: Beijing. "Dream of the East"

As well as these, I have over 50 public sculptures on display all over Europe. For more information, with pictures and exact loc...