Albin Polasek

Albin Polasek (1879 - May 19, 1965) was a Czech-American sculptor and educator. He created more than four hundred works during his career, two hundred of which are now displayed in the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens in Winter Park, Florida.

Career

Born in Frenštát, Moravia (now Czech Republic), Polasek apprenticed as a wood carver in Vienna. At the age of 22 he emigrated to the United States and began formal art training at age 25 under Charles Grafly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. As a student, he first produced "Man Carving His Own Destiny" (1907) and "Eternal Moment" (1909). In 1909, Polasek became an American citizen and in 1910, won the Prix de Rome competition. At age 37, after periods of residence in Rome and New York City, he was invited to head the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he remained for nearly thirty years. Polasek was elected an Associate Member of the National Academy of Design in 1927, and full member in 1933.

In 1950, Polasek retired at age 71 to Winter Park, Florida. Within months he suffered a stroke that left his left side paralyzed; he subsequently completed eighteen major works with his right hand only. Towards the end of 1950, he married former student Ruth Sherwood who died 18 months later. In 1961, Polasek married Emily Muska Kubat. Upon his death in 1965, Polasek was buried beside his first wife in Winter Park's Palms Cemetery, where his "12th Station of the Cross" (1939) is his monument. Emily M. K. Polasek died in 1988.

elected Works

Polasek's better-known works include the "Theodore Thomas Memorial" (1924), the "Masaryk Memorial" (1941) in Chicago,the "Wilson Memorial" (1926), "Radigast" (1929) and "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" (1929) in the Czech Republic. His "Mother Crying Over the World" (1942) was a response to World War II, and his "Victory of Moral Law" (1956) to the Hungarian Revolution.

Cemetery monuments

Like many other sculptors of his era, Polasek created several cemetery memorials. Notable among those are "The Pilgrim" and "The Mother" (1927), both located in the Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago, and the "Pilgrim at the Eternal Gates" in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. Pictures of all three are featured in both biographies listed in the sources section.

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References

*Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, "Cemetery Sculpture in America", unpublished manuscript
*Polasek, "Albin Polasek: Man Carving His Own Destiny," Albin Polasek Foundation 1970
*Sherwood, Ruth, "Carving His Own Destiny: The Story of Albin Polasek," Ralph Fletcher Seymour, Publisher, Chicago 1954

External links

* [http://www.polasek.org/] Polasek Museum