Hand-painted porcelain, signed.
Dimensions: 7x9x10 cm
Franciszek Kalfas (Cięcina 1898 - 1968 Kraków) - sculptor, porcelain designer. Between 1920 and 1922 he studied at the State School of Wood Industry in Zakopane. From 1922 to 1927 he studied at the State School of Decorative Arts and Artistic Industry in Cracow, where he attended classes in the studio of Jan Raszka. After graduation, he stayed at his alma mater as an assistant, teaching classes in the composition of solids and planes, and in 1929-1930 additionally in wood and stone sculpture. Since 1928 he belonged to the Association of Artists "Zwornik", and began to exhibit his works. In 1929 he took part in the General National Exhibition in Poznan, exhibiting four sculptures there and winning an award for his sculpture of Krak for the pavilion of the city of Krakow. In 1931 he took part in the International Exhibition of Religious Art in Padua. From 1930 to 1934 he was a contract teacher, then a full-time teacher at the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1931 he made bas-reliefs for the main altar in the Sacred Heart Church in Cracow. In the 1930s, he also became involved with the Porcelain Factory in Ćmielów, for which he created designs for figurines and dishes, as well as decorations for the facades of two Krakow townhouses owned by the factory. In 1939, he won an honorary award from Polish President Ignacy Moscicki for his bronze sculpture "Champion of the World," which was awarded to German ski jumping gold medalist Joseph Bradl. During World War II, from 1942 to 1944, Kalfas hid in the porcelain factory in Ćmielów, where he was a designer and artistic director. The 24 designs made at that time were presented at an exhibition in Cracow in 1945; after the war, the artist did not return to work with porcelain. In 1945, he made the "Motherhood" figurine, which is now in the collection of the National Museum in Cracow. In 1958, he made a design for a Żak figurine commissioned by Cracow craftsmen. The figure stands in St. Mary's Square crowning the fountain, which was designed by Jan Budziłło. At the same time he made a life-size stone sculpture of Christ adorning the tomb of his parents Franciszka and Florian Kalfas in the cemetery in Cięcin. In 1960 he made a model of the statue of Our Lady of Weeping in the Basilica in Dębowiec.
