Biography

Kalin was born in Solkan

Solkan

Solkan is a suburb of the town of Nova Gorica in the Goriška region of western Slovenia, close to the border with Italy. Although it is nowadays completely integrated into Nova Gorica, with which it forms a single urban area, it has maintained the status of a separate urban settlement, due to its...

, which was then a suburb of the Austro-Hungarian town of Gorizia

Gorizia

Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...

 and is now part of Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica ; 21,082 ; 31,000 ) is a town and a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy...

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

. He attended the technical secondary school in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

 and continued his studies between 1924 and 1929 at the Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

 Academy of Fine Arts with the professors Rudolf Valdec, Frano Kršinić

Frano Kršinić

Frano Kršinić was a renowned Croatian sculptor. Along with Ivan Meštrović and Antun Augustinčić he is considered one of the three most important Croatian sculptors of the 20th century...

, Ivo Kredić and Ivan Meštrović

Ivan Meštrovic

Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...

. Between the years 1945 and 1970, Kalin taught sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 at the Academy of Fine Arts

Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana

The Academy of Fine Arts and Design , is a prestigious art academy and institution based in Ljubljana, Slovenia . It is part of the University of Ljubljana....

 in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

; he was also its dean for two terms. He educated numerous generations of younger colleagues who have become prominent Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an creators. Kalin was one of the few Slovene sculptors who mastered stone carving. In 1953 he became a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy....

.

He died in Ljubljana. His younger brother Zdenko Kalin was also a renowned sculptor.

Work

Boris Kalin mainly created classically formed portraits, public monuments and acts.

For his work he was bestowed with Prešeren Award

Prešeren Award

Prešeren Award is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia awarded each year to one or two eminent Slovene artists...

 three times: in 1947 for his statue "The Fifteen-year-old Girl" (Petnajstletna) that was said to represent his daughter, in 1948 for his statue "A Portrait of Marshal Tito

Josip Broz Tito

Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...

" (Portret Maršala Tita), and in 1950 for his "Monument to the People's Liberation War" (Spomenik narodnoosvobodilni borbi) in Vrhnika

Vrhnika

Vrhnika is a town and a municipality in Slovenia. It is situated on the Ljubljanica River, 21 km from Ljubljana along the A1 motorway.-History:...

.

Some of his sculptures are kept in the mansion Brdo pri Kranju

Brdo pri Kranju

Brdo near Kranj is an estate and a mansion in the Slovenian region of Upper Carniola in the municipality of Kranj north of Ljubljana. It is the Slovenian Government's main venue for diplomatic meetings and other Government-sponsored events....

as part of the representative collection of modern Slovenian art.