"We were taking final exams. I made four heads like the four seasons. They were black and white drawings. […] I had it on display in the storage room in the studio upstairs. A committee of professors came and evaluated it. [Jan Mikula told me]: 'Flowers, butterflies, we wouldn't get very far with that. You make blocks of flats!' And I told him: 'Professor, people live in them. Why would they also hang it on the wall?'
Flowers and butterflies reminded him of Mrs. Jiřincová, so he threw it away. But before he threw it away, [something unexpected happened].
I then came to Mrs. Jiřincová and I must say that I cried because I felt sad. I was already under pressure. Since [Jiřincová] knew Mikula from Our Army - she made illustrations like Kytice by Erben for them - she said: 'What about your Mikulka?' She always got his name wrong. And I said: 'He threw everything out, telling me that we wouldn't get very far with flowers and butterflies.'
Then there was the award ceremony of Meritorious Artists ceremony, she met him there and he told her what a wonderful thing I had done from those seasons of the year. And do you know why? Because before he threw it out, an editor from Tvorba - it was a communist culture magazine - came there, took a picture of my summer and under the article he wrote that it was the work of a student of professor Jiří Mikula. They used it within the MDŽ (International Women's Day), but I didn't know about it.
Jiřincová came and said: 'So I met that Mikulka of yours at the award ceremony of Meritorious Artists and he said what a wonderful thing you did.' And I said: 'That's the one he threw out, how I was here crying about it.'
Then I learned that it was for these reasons. Perhaps I have the Tvorba magazine somewhere, it was on the front page. So, suddenly he changed his mind and the flowers and butterflies were good!”
"Then at that time I attended the workshop at UMPRUM. At that time, our comrade Mikula was the rector there. As they knew what he was like, they kicked him out. But before that he allegedly banned all posters, as they were supposed to be for the revolution; when it moved on, he allowed it; and in the end he allegedly took the banner and went to demonstrate on the Old Town Square. It was something he would do because he could turn his coat. But it didn't matter to him anyway, they just fired him because they knew what he was like. He just ended up there. So, he worked his way up to become the rector, as I predicted."
"Obviously there was a pressure to join the party. I resisted and I resisted because I commuted every day and said: 'My mom works three shifts, so I also have to do something at home. Then I won't have reports and I'll be bad.' [Jan Mikula] shouted at me in the corridor: 'Say straight away that you're not interested in it!' Then he said to me: 'You probably wash at home in the same lavatory in which you etch.' I said to him: 'And you know that you're probably right, Professor?' Or it also bothered him that I was visiting Mrs. Jiřincová. She was the bourgeois type. They had houses in Prague, so he probably thought I had it too. At the end of school, he wrote [a corresponding dossier] for me because I did not join the party. He liked to write dossiers. And he always had us read it, because he was such a people person, if we agreed with it. So, I read: 'She was not interested in joining the Communist party. She meets the academic painter Ludmila Jiřincová with the pedagogue's knowledge.' As if I was being watched! I thought he was basically right, I took it and signed it. He looked at me to see if I was out of my mind. I thought to myself: 'Boy, I will never want anything from you. I'm free, freelance, so what?' So, I signed it and he looked at me like I was crazy."
Olga Vychodilová was born on May 7, 1949 in Mělník to the family of local photographer Oldřich Vychodil and Růzena Vychodilová. She graduated from the Mělník Secondary School of General Education (1964–1967), the Secondary Vocational School of Fine Arts in Prague (1971–1973) and the University of Applied Arts in Prague (1976–1982). She was accepted into the illustration and graphics studio led by professor Zdeněk Sklenář; however, he was replaced by associate professor Jiří Mikula after a year for political reasons. At school, she witnessed Jiří Mikula’s steep career and the harsh bullying he used against some students who did not share his views. Thanks to her friendship with Ludmila Jiřincová, she started to create bookplates for private collectors from Czechoslovakia and abroad already during her studies. After graduating from Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, she remained freelance. In addition to freelance work, she occasionally collaborated with publishing houses as a book illustrator. After the Velvet Revolution, she became a member of Hollar, the prestigious Association of Czech Graphic Artists. She took part in a number of group exhibitions of the Hollar association and bookplates creators, she exhibited independently mainly in the Czech Republic. She is the recipient of an honorary mention from the Ministry of Culture in the Most Beautiful Books of the Year competition, twice won an award at the international bookplate competition. Her works are represented in collections in the Czech Republic and abroad (European countries, Canada, USA or Hong Kong). At the time of filming (2022), she was still an active Hollar member and engaged in artistic creation.
