It is with great sadness that we announce that the director emeritus of our gallery, Mr. PhDr. Jiří Hyliš, died on 24 July 2023.

We remember him with respect…

Jiří Hyliš (born 1953) studied theory and history of fine arts at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University in Brno between 1973 and 1978. In the years 1979-1984, he was a curator at the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou. The largest part of his professional career was connected with the Vysočina Regional Gallery in Jihlava, where he worked from September 1, 1984, first as a curator, and from January 1, 1988, he took up the position of director, in which he remained until August 31, 2003. From September 1, 2003 he worked here as a historian and ended his work at the gallery on December 30, 2006, after more than 22 years.

At the very beginning of his career as the director of the Jihlava gallery, he played a significant role in the completion of the gallery's second building at Masaryk square 24, the opening of which in August 1989 gave the city another important cultural stand. It is also worth mentioning his personal attitude during the revolutionary November events, when he agreed and supported the closing of both gallery buildings and enabled the activities of a group of visual artists and gallery employees to support striking students.

He was among those directors who participated in the professional development and cooperation of Czech galleries, he regularly collaborated with, for example, Aleš South Bohemian Gallery, the Hodonín Gallery of Fine Arts, the North Bohemian Gallery of Fine Arts in Litoměřice, Karlovy Vary Art Gallery and others. Last but not least, he contributed significantly to the founding of the Council of Galleries of the Czech Republic (in the 1990s, the Council of State Galleries of the Czech Republic), he was a member of the preparatory committee of the professional association and in its first governing bodies.

Honor his memory…

Jana Bojanovská, August 2023