Olinka Hrdy

Olinka Hrdy (1902–1987) was an American artist who was born in Prague, Oklahoma Territory, and became a noted artist in Oklahoma. She graduated in 1928, from the University of Oklahoma (OU), where she majored in art. Her teachers included Oscar Jacobsen and Edith Mahier, who considered her one of their most gifted students. She earned part of the money for her education by painting murals for a restaurant in Norman, Oklahoma, and a set of panels in the women's dormitory at OU.

Noted Oklahoma-born architect Bruce Goff discovered Hrdy's artistic talent one day while eating lunch at the OU women's dormitory and asked to meet the artist. They became friends and quickly began to collaborate, as he invited her to paint some murals for the Riverside Studio in Tulsa, which he was designing for a Tulsa musician. After that, he commissioned her to help decorate the Brady Theater in Tulsa (then known as the Tulsa Convention Hall). Her works at both sites have since disappeared.

Hrdy moved for a while in the 1930s to New York City, where she applied her artistic talent in designing utilitarian objects like place mats, textiles, radios, wallpaper and even scarves. She was then invited to attend Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen Studio in Wisconsin, but ended her visit there after three months.

She moved to Southern California and worked for a while at the start of World War II, but quit her job and opened her own design studio. During this period, she also experienced a brief marriage that apparently ended in divorce. Later, she returned to live in her mother's home in Prague, where she died in 1987.

Early life and education Olinka Hrdy was born August 7, 1902, in a one-room sod hut in Prague, Oklahoma to Josef Hrdy, an immigrant from Bohemia, and his wife, Emma, who was of Indian descent.

When Olinka Hrdy enrolled in the University of Oklahoma in 1923, she initially declared her major as domestic arts. She had become proficient in embroidery, which was traditionally practiced by Czech women in her home town. She saw this as a path to learning sewing. She learned instead that domestic arts was boring and switched her major to art at the end of her first semester. Hrdy said that she had only fifty dollars when she arrived at OU. An instructor, Edith Mayer, (Author Lee spelled her name Mahler in his book, while biographer Wall spelled it Mayer in her article.)

Professional career Oklahoma In 1928, Hrdy was commissioned to paint two murals in the Central High School of Oklahoma City. This building became surplus to the school district during the 1970s, and was bought in 1981 by Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, who used it for regional offices. Farmers' Union Mutual Insurance Company bought it in 2005. In 2016, the building was vacant and up for sale. The building is now occupied by the Oklahoma City University College of Law. The two murals painted by Olinka Hrdy in 1928 have been found and restored, and now hang in the school's museum on the third floor of the building.

During Hrdy's senior year, noted Tulsa architect, Bruce Goff, attended a luncheon at the Women's Dormitory dining room, where he noticed Hrdy's painted panels. Fascinated, he requested an opportunity to meet the artist. At the meeting, he proposed that Hrdy come to Tulsa to create some murals for his current project, the Riverside Studio. Hrdy agreed to do the studio after her graduation, and moved to Tulsa in the fall of 1928. The two artists' work was complementary. According to Eric Lee, Goff had designed the building as an artistic representation of music, and Hrdy's paintings were an abstract visualization of music.

Wisconsin After New York, Hrdy was invited to visit at Frank Lloyd Wright's studio at Taliesin. She remained only three months, apparently working with Wright on some projects and teaching some of his students. Her departure seemed abrupt and was never explained. Gail Kana Anderson, interim director for the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, said in a 2007 interview, "..."there is a letter in the archives expressing some kind of regret about how her stay ended."

Death Olinka Hrdy returned to her hometown (Prague, Oklahoma) sometime before her death, and lived in a house that belonged to her mother, but exactly when is not known. Author Berry says that she suffered from crippling arthritis in her later years. She died on September 8, 1987. She is buried in the same plot with her mother, Edna Mae (who died April 16, 1987) and her younger brother, George E. (who died March 31, 1988). Carl Hrdy, older brother of Olinka (February 23, 1901 – September 2, 1956) Edna Mae Lester Hrdy, sister of Olinka (September 23, 1909 – April 16, 1987) Josef Hrdy, father of Olinka (December 29, 1867 – August 5, 1953)

Legacy Most of the major works of Olinka Hrdy's early years have disappeared. The Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art in Norman owns the majority of her surviving pieces. The museum presented Oklahoma Moderne: The Art and Design of Olinka Hrdy June 9 to September 9, 2007.

The murals she completed at the Oklahoma Central High School have been found and restored. They are still in the same building, which now belongs to the Oklahoma City University College of Law.