Jan Matulka

Jan Matulka, Czech-American painter and illustrator (died 1972)

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Born: November 7, 1890
Died: June 25, 1972
Zodiac sign: Scorpio
Birth year: 1890

About Jan Matulka

Jan Matulka (7 November 1890 – 25 June 1972) was a Czech-American modern artist originally from Bohemia. Matulka's style ranged from Abstract expressionism to landscapes, sometimes in the same day. He has directly influenced artists like Dorothy Dehner, Francis Criss, Burgoyne Diller, I. Rice Pereira, and David Smith. == Early life == Matulka was born on 7 November 1890 in Vlachovo Březí, Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary and now part of the Czech Republic. In 1907 Jan, his parents Maria and John, and his five younger sisters moved to the Bronx. Soon after John separated from Jan's mother and left the family alone and with little money. In 1908 Jan Matulka began studying at the National Academy of Design in New York City. Upon graduation in 1917 Matulka met Ludmila "Lída" Jiroušková who would on 1 May 1918 become his wife. Lída Matulka worked for the New York Public Library as the head of the Czechoslovak literature section and helped connect her husband to the larger cultural community. Between 1917 and 1918 Matulka traveled around the United States and the Caribbean as the first recipient of the Joseph Pulitzer National Traveling Scholarship, painting as he went.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

With help from Max Weber and Václav Vytlačil Matulka landed a teaching job at the Art Students League of New York, his first salaried position.
While in the Southwest he became one of the first modern artists to portray the Hopi snake rain dance.
Katherine Sophie Dreier became his patron briefly from 1925 to 1926, which came to a premature end mainly due to petty disagreements and Matulka's general lack of social grace, ranging from tardiness to tantrums.

Jan Matulka timeline

1917Between 1917 and 1918 Matulka traveled around the United States and the Caribbean as the first recipient of the Joseph Pulitzer National Traveling Scholarship, painting as he went.
1925Katherine Sophie Dreier became his patron briefly from 1925 to 1926, which came to a premature end mainly due to petty disagreements and Matulka's general lack of social grace, ranging from tardiness to tantrums.

The world when Jan Matulka was born

Jan Matulka was born in 1890. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

Top headlineWounded Knee Massacre — last major conflict with Native Americans
Technology milestoneElectric chair used for first execution
Notable inventionElectric chair
World population~1.5B

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderBenjamin Harrison
U.S. population63.0M

1890 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Jan Matulka's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1890	2026
Postage stamp	$0.02	$0.73
Population	63.0M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

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