Max Kalish (March 1, 1891 – 1945) was American sculptor born in

Valozhyn Valozhyn, Vałožyn or Volozhin ( be, Вало́жын, , russian: Воло́жин, lt, Valažinas, pl, Wołożyn, yi, וואָלאָזשין ''Volozhin''; also written as Wolozin and Wolozhin) is a town in the Minsk Region of Belarus. The pop ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, and best known for his sculptures of laborers. His Orthodox Jewish family emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1893, when he was two years old. He studied with

Herman Matzen Herman Matzen (July 15, 1861 – April 22, 1938) American sculptor and educator, born in Denmark. Early years Matzen studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin before immigrating to the United St ...

at the Cleveland School of Art; in New York City with Herbert Adams at the National Academy of Design, and in the studios of

Alexander Stirling Calder Alexander Stirling Calder (January 11, 1870 – January 7, 1945) was an American sculptor and teacher. He was the son of sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and the father of sculptor Alexander (Sandy) Calder. His best-known works are ''George Washi ...

and

Isidore Konti Isidore Konti (July 9, 1862 – January 11, 1938) was a Vienna-born (of Hungarian parents) sculptor. He began formal art studies at the age of 16 when he entered the Imperial Academy in Vienna, where he studied under Edmund von Hellmer.''Colle ...

; and in Paris with

Paul Wayland Bartlett Paul Wayland Bartlett (January 24, 1865 – September 20, 1925) was an American sculptor working in the Beaux-Arts tradition of heroic realism. Life Bartlett was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Truman Howe Bartlett, an art critic ...

at the Académie Colorossi, and

Jean Antoine Injalbert Jean-Antoine Injalbert (1845–1933) was a much-decorated French sculptor, born in Béziers. Life The son of a stonemason, Injalbert was a pupil of Augustin-Alexandre Dumont and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1874. At the Exposition Univ ...

at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

.McGlauflin, Alice Coe, editor, ''Who’s Who in American Art 1938-1939, vol. 2'', The American Federation of Arts, Washington D.C., 1937 A travelling exhibition of his work, titled "Glorification of the U.S. Workingman", stopped in Detroit in January 1927. Washington, D.C. publisher Willard M. Kiplinger commissioned Kalish to create fifty portrait statuettes of prominent figures in World War II era politics, arts and sciences. Kiplinger donated the statuettes to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in 1944. Kalish was the author of ''Labor Sculpture'', largely a collection of photographs of these statues of workers. Most of those statutes were in a

Social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

style. Critic Emily Genauer wrote in 1938, "It is the workmen who dominate the American scene, and who have become as surely symbolic of their time as the pioneers in covered wagons, and the robber barons and the great merchant princes were in their respective eras." This was what Kalish portrayed in his art.

Works

Examples of Kalish's work can be found in: * ''Baby’s Head'', Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery,

Canajoharie, New York Canajoharie () is a town in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 3,730 in 2010. Canajoharie is located south of the Mohawk River on the southern border of the county. The Erie Canal passes along the northern town line. T ...

* ''Old Man Resting'', Massillon Museum, Massillon, Ohio * ''Portrait of a Boy'',

North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that e ...

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

* ''Gold Prospector'', Canton Museum of Art,

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes ...

* ''Head of

Louis Kronberg Louis Kronberg (1872–1965) was an American figure painter, art dealer, advisor, and teacher. Among his best-known works are ''Behind the Footlights'' ( Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia) and ''The Pink Sash'' (Metropolitan Museum, New York). ...

'', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts * ''Torso,''

Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (WCMFA) is an art museum located in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States. The building is located off Park Circle and serves as a centerpiece in Hagerstown City Park. The museum was donated in 1929, by Mr. an ...

Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States and the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census was 43,527, and the population of the Hagerstow ...

* ''Laborer at Rest'',

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, A ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

* ''Torso'' (1925),

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egypt ...

, Cleveland, Ohio * ''Woodcutter'' (c1926) * ''The Steelworker'' (c1926) * ''The Discard'' (c1926) * ''Spirit of American Labor'' (c1927) * ''New Power'' * ''The End of Day'' (1930), Smithsonian American Art Museum,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

* ''Abraham Lincoln'' (1927–32), Board of Education, Cleveland, Ohio * ''Man of Steel'' (before 1933),

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

, Washington, D.C. File:End of the Day by Max Kalish Smithsonian1933.1.2.jpg, ''The End of Day'' (1930), Smithsonian American Art Museum. File:Abraham Lincoln by Max Kalish - Cleveland Municipal School District Headquarters - DSC07950.JPG, ''Abraham Lincoln'' (1927–32), Cleveland Municipal School District Headquarters. File:Man of Steel by Max Kalish 1933 Smithsonian.jpg, ''Man of Steel'' (before 1933), Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Works

References

Further reading