| James C. Kulhanek | |
| Birth Date: | 23 April 1908 |
| Birth Place: | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Death Place: | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Education: | Cleveland School of Art |
| Known For: | Painting, drawing, commercial art |
James Charles Kulhanek (April 23, 1908 – April 1, 1990) was an American commercial artist and designer.
Václav Kulhánek and Anna Kulhánek, née Veleba, the parents of James C. Kulhanek, were born in Bohemia within Austria-Hungary and settled in Cleveland in the 1900s. James C. Kulhanek was born there on April 23, 1908.[1]
Kulhanek was a student of Henry Keller at the Cleveland School of Art.[2]
In 1938, Kulhanek was a witness to an incident at Brookside Zoo where Judy Zemnick, another WPA artist, was pulled into a polar bear enclosure and clawed. Kulhanek and another artist called for help and tried to drive the bear away from Ms. Zemnick.[3] The incident received extensive press coverage at the time and for two years following.
Between 1935 and 1942, Kulhanek received Federal Art Project commissions through New Deal Works Progress Administration- sponsored art projects, such as the rendering of several prints of elks, great horned owls,[4] and reindeer, now in the collection of Case Western University.[5] [6] He also painted panels to be installed in the hallways of Collinwood and Lincoln High Schools as well as the Federal Courthouse. Shortly before Kulhanek's death, the artist painted a portrait of former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich, who actually sat for Kulhanek, although the portrait was never displayed in Cleveland City Hall.[7]