Max Kalish Circa 1930 Bronze Sculpture of Laborer on Porto D'Oro Base

Item Details

Max Kalish (Hungarian-American, 1891 – 1945)
Untitled (Laborer), Circa 1930
Bronze sculpture
Signed at base

A bronze sculpture by renowned Hungarian-American sculptor Max Kalish (1891-1945), circa 1930. One of about sixty different sculptures of American laborers the artist created between 1920 to 1937, this work features a male laborer with a sledge hammer in mid strike. The sculpture is signed and dated to the bronze base. A foundry mark is present to the verso of the base and it is presented on the original Porto D’Oro marble base.

Provenance
Property of a New England Collector

Max Kalish was especially famed for his sculptures of laborers, however his best known work may be his monumental 1932 statue of Abraham Lincoln, located in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at the Cleveland School of Art with Herman Matzen, the National Academy of Design with Herbert Adams, the Académie Colorossi in Paris with Paul Wayland Bartlett, and the École des Beaux-Arts with Jean Antoine Injalbert. In addition, he also studied in the studios of in the studios of A. Stirling Calder, Isidore Konti, and Cartaino Pietro. In addition to his statues of American laborers portrayed in a Social Realist style, he is also celebrated for his twenty-two portrait statuettes of New Yorkers, and his series of forty-eight bronze figures of those involved in the World War II effort, including President Roosevelt and his cabinet members. Kalish’s work has been collected and exhibited by numerous institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among many others.

Condition

- minor surface wear and patina throughout, the marble base has been repaired

Dimensions

- measures the bronze, the marble base is 10.00″ × 4.00″ × 0.75″ high

Item #

18DCC800-055