Illustration for the First Canto of May by Karel Hynek Mácha

Jan Zrzavý’s illustrations for Máj (May), by Karel Hynek Mácha, the most famous literary work of Czech Romanticism, were issued by Aventinum during Christmas of 1924 and instantly gained him great admiration and popularity. Zrzavý matched each, individual canto and intermezzo with an illustration rendered in delicate charcoal lines. He complemented the series of drawings conveying an oppressive atmosphere with an imaginary portrait of Karel Hynek Mácha. He prepared the pictures during his stay in Paris and, with some concern, expounded his pictorial treatment in a literary journal. Zrzavý’s poetic perception was a perfect counterpart to the tragedy of Mácha’s story.