Maurice Calka

France

Person

Designer

Born 10 January 1921 Łódz, Poland Died 25 August 1999 Paris, France Maurice Calka studied at the École des beaux-arts in Lille from 1937 to 1940, where he met the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens. In 1945 he continued his education in sculpture at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. He won the Villa Medici Prix de Rome in 1950 and worked as a town planner in Italy from 1950 to 1954. In 1954 he received the commission for the monumental sculpture The Lion of Judah in Addis Ababa and was appointed head of an atelier at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. From 1954 onwards he carried out numerous public and private commissions in France and abroad, including memorials, lobbies, reliefs, and facade designs for buildings in Germany, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Canada. Between 1956 and 1979 he created sculptures, especially human and animal heads, inspired by his travels and ‘primitive’ art. From 1968 he also designed squares, ports, cemeteries, and community facilities in France, Réunion, and Kinshasa. In 1969/70 he designed the P.-D. G. Desk and the Boomerang desk, both of which became icons of French design.