Matulka was born in Vlachovo Březí, Bohemia, then part of Austria–Hungary and now part of Czech Republic. In 1907 Jan, his parents Maria and John, and his five younger sisters moved to The Bronx. The following year he began to study at the National Academy of Design. In 1917–18, Matulka traveled through the United States and the Caribbean as the first recipient of the Joseph Pulitzer National Traveling Scholarship. In the 1920s Matulka traveled back and forth from New York to Paris. He showed with Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery in New York. Matulka taught at the Art Students League and privately, and students responded to his modern style. In the thirties he painted murals for the government and private commissions. In 1936 he helped found the American Abstract Artists group but refused to join.
