Jan Matulka

American (1890-1972)

Although a native of Prague, Matulka and his mother immigrated to the Bronx early in his childhood. Matulka later settled in Manhattan and studied at the National Academy of Design through 1917. At the conclusion of this formative experience, Matulka received the Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship which allowed him to travel extensively throughout the southwestern United States, Czechoslovakia, Paris and Prague. These travels and the art they inspired mark a shift in Matulka’s style from his early realism towards the abstract style that was to eventually define his work and life as an artist. 

As his style became more abstract, Matulka began to work with Stuart Davis to find a new form of Cubism that was based on distorting forms. Matulka had his first important one man exhibition in 1926 at The Art Center in New York; he also showed his work at the Art Students League. In 1935 he joined the Federal Art Project and also became a mural artist for the WPA. Matulka was incredibly influential, reflecting and propelling the rapid change occurring in the art world throughout the 20th century, and today his work is held at many highly regarded museums including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Harvard University Museum of Art, and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.