Josef Mukařovský
1851–1921 · Czech painter and illustrator
Josef Mukařovský (Mainz, 1851 – Klatovy, 1921) was a Czech painter and illustrator. Although born in Germany, where his father, a military officer, was stationed, he was brought back to Prague when he was eight. He studied there and in Vienna and trained at a painting academy.
From the early 1870s he contributed to illustrated magazines, above all Světozor, for which he produced more than four hundred illustrations over about fourteen years. He also decorated the staircase of the Thunovský Palace. In the 1880s he visited Munich, settled there, started a family and took part in its cultural life, earning the nickname 'Muki'. He illustrated German magazines and Karl May's novel Der Sohn des Bärenjägers. Shortly before the First World War he returned home for family reasons and bought a house in Domažlice. After the war he focused on portraits of local people, in a practical style unaffected by modern trends. He was remembered as a cheerful and pleasant man.