January Burka

Background

January Burka was born on June 14, 1924, in Postoloprty, as the younger son in an intermarriage.

Education

In 1940, he studied at a private art school, and then attended a course in graphics at the Vinohrady Synagogue, led by Petr Kien.

Career

After some time in Prague, he was deported as Geltungsjude, and was sent to Terezín on 10 August 1942. In Terezín, he was once again reunited with Petr Kien, and even in the difficult conditions in the ghetto, continued to study drawing. In Terezín, he lived to see liberation.

After World World War II, Burka (with Danby) settled in Amsterdam, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Rijksakademie beeldende van Kunsten), under Lütke and Westerman.

From 1945-1951, he worked as a graphic artist in Amsterdam. In 1951, he moved to Toronto in Canada, where he studied at the Ontario College of Art & Design.

There he was linked to Henri Chopin. From 1961-1968, he lived in France, where he made his first reliefs and sculptures.

In 1968, he went back to Toronto, where he lived and worked until 1978.

Most of these works are now located in Canadian museums. Burka attended more than a hundred exhibitions in Europe, Canada, and the United States. In 1968 he received the Ontario price Centenaire du Canada.

Achievements

• He also founded his own graphic arts studio, and together with Alain Fleming, was a co-founder of a Canadian group of designers. Burka also won numerous awards for his graphic work and his "Concrete poetry", part of an anthology of experimental poetry, published in 1967.