Author Description

The Art Pottery of Joseph Mrazek chronicles the extraordinary life of an American who emigrated to the United States from what is now the Czech Republic in 1908, and became a gifted painter and muralist, a decorated hero of the Czechoslovakian independence movement, an American undercover agent in World War I, and a friend of Tomas Masaryk, the "father of Czechoslovakia." Between the two world wars, Joseph Mrazek was the largest producer of hand-painted pottery in Czechoslovakia, most of which was exported to the United States. With the advent of the Second World War, he invented and manufactured a critically important military aircraft component that was integrated into more than 70,000 U.S. warplanes. Joseph Mrazek's most enduring legacy can be found in the brilliantly-colored, hand-painted pottery that he created from 1918-1933. The pieces remain as dramatic and vibrant today as when he first put brush to clay, retaining a brightness and durability that is astonishing. Today, his pottery can be found in museum collections and in the homes of thousands of collectors all over the world. This is his story.