Max Kalish (1891-1945)
The Road Builder
Born in Poland, Max Kalish was a sculptor best known for his WPA Depression-era sculptures of American laborers, a prime example of which is his bronze The Road Builder. A talented youth, Kalish enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Art at 15, and after graduation went to Newyork City, where he studied with Isidore Konti and Herbert Adams for the next two years.
In 1912, Kalish went to Paris and studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris and then at the École des Beaux-arts. In the army by 1916, Kalish sculpted a series of bronze soldiers. In 1920, back in Paris, he soon sculpted his first laborer, The Stoker, depicting a Cleveland blast furnace worker. In 1925, one of his award-winning marble nude torsos was purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art, which led to several significant largescale public commissions.
Living and working in New York City at the outset of World War II, Kalish was commissioned by the Museum of American History to sculpt 48 bronze figures—one-third life-size—of those involved in the war effort, including President Roosevelt, his cabinet and other important people.
Helicline Fine Art
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