Architect, photographer.
Born Henry Daniel Kalynowych at Winnipeg on 20 January 1928, one of two children of Mary and Stephan Kalynowich, he entered the University of Manitoba in 1951, receiving his Bachelor of Architecture degree six years later, after having shortened his surname to Kalen in 1955. He worked for the Federal Department of Public Works and GBR Architects, received his accreditation in the Manitoba Association of Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, but after three years of practice, decided to pursue his first career love of photography.
In 1960, he attended the summer session in Art Education at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, then joined the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba. He also assisted in teaching architectural drawing, graphic presentation and fundamentals of design from 1960 to 1971. He was a founding member of the Professional Photographers Association of Manitoba (PPAM). During his many years of membership, he held many executive positions, designed the PPAM logo, and won many competition awards including the Photographer of the Year twice. He was also a member of the Professional Photographers of Canada where he earned his Craftsman of Photographic Art in 1970. He also belonged to the Professional Photographers of America where he also won several print competition awards.
During the early 1970s he taught at the Neepawa Festival of Arts. He was the first photographer to have a one-man show at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1966. In 1967, he received a Canada Council grant to produce a major exhibit of Regina as a centennial project. In 1973, he ventured into the postcard distribution business. During the next 17 years, his company published over 400 postcards and sold over 12 million postcards across five provinces. His stock photos were filed with the Image Bank in Toronto and he was a stringer for such national magazines as Macleans, Chatelaine, Weekend Magazine and Canadian Geographic. In 1982, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada awarded him the Allied Arts Medal for architectural photography. He was accepted for membership in the Royal Canadian Academy. His book Henry Kalen's Winnipeg was launched in September of 2000 and was a long-time bestseller.
In 1955, he married Gloria Nina Novak (1926-2017) and they had two daughters and a son.
He died at Winnipeg on 25 December 2004. A collection of some 1,500 of Kalen’s photographs are held at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.
See also:
Henry Kalen: Photographer by Alison Gillmor, Serena Keshavjee, and Susan Algie, Winnipeg Architecture Foundation, 2024.
Marriage registration [Stephan Kalynowycz, Mary Jendrzejewsky], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Canada Voters Lists, 1935-1980, Ancestry.
“Notice of application for a change of name,” Winnipeg Tribune, 18 August 1955, page 14.
Obituary [Nikola Kalynowicz], Winnipeg Free Press, 8 March 1956, page 28.
“Notice to creditors [Nicholas Kalynowycz],” Winnipeg Tribune, 31 March 1956, page 26.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 January 2005.
Obituary [Nellie Bidell], Toronto Star, 6 October 2008.
Obituary [Gloria Kalen], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 August 2017.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 28 November 2024
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