Albin Polasek
Sculptor
1879 - 1965
Inducted in 2004
Born in 1879 in Frenstat, Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic, Albin Polasek (1879-1965) was a legendary artist and sculptor who retired to Winter Park, Florida in 1949. He began his career as a wood carver apprentice in Vienna and immigrated to America in 1901. He studied sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and was awarded a fellowship to study at the American Academy in Rome from 1910-1913.
Upon his return to America, he set up a studio in New York City and later moved to Chicago to become head of the Department of Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1949, he set up his retirement home and studio on Lake Osceola in Winter Park where he continued to produce artwork until he passed away in 1969. Upon his death, Albin Polasek generously donated his sculpture for public display and requested his studio, his home, and his galleries be open to the public to encourage the study, appreciation, and furtherance of representational art. In 2000, his home and studio were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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