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Featured Work
Man Carving His Own Destiny
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Albin PolasekSculpture (EXTERIOR)
Winter Park Public Library
About the Artwork
Albin Polasek’s signature piece recreated at the age of 82. Reminiscent of Michelangelo’s series of Slave sculptures, Polasek showed a man carving his own life from a piece of stone. On April 25, 1991 an Orlando Sentinel article states, “Representatives of the Albin Polasek Foundation of Winter Park were honored for donating a beautiful statue by Albin Polasek, Man Carving His Own Destiny. The statue will remain on permanent loan from the Foundation.”
About the Artist
Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek is heralded as one of America’s foremost sculptors of the twentieth century. Born in Frenstat, Moravia (now Czech Republic), he immigrated to the United States at the age of twenty-two. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was formally trained under Charles Grafly. He was awarded in the Prix de Rome competition of 1910, with a three year fellowship at the American Academy of Art in Rome. At the age of thirty-seven, he became the head of the Sculpture Department at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1927, he was elected an Associate Member of the National Academy of Design and received full Academician status in 1933. At the age of 71, Polasek retired to Winter Park, Florida, on picturesque Lake Osceola, now the site of the Albin Polasek Museum. A few months later, his artistic efforts were slowed dramatically by a stroke. Yet with determination and resolve, he continued to complete eighteen major works. In his lifetime, Albin Polasek created over four hundred works of art, leaving behind the legacy of a “man carving his own destiny”.
Did you know?
There is a large and colorful abstract leaded glass window in the Orange County Administration Center, called Riverwalk to the Sea, that is hidden behind shutters in order to control light for the T.V. cameras which broadcast meetings held in the room. However the shutters can be opened on request.
Discover Art in Central Florida!
For those who have eyes to see, there are hundreds of works of art around them.
This web site provides some information on many of those works of art that can
be regularly viewed in Orange County by any member of the public without an
admission fee. They are outside in public view, or located in an interior area
that is normally open to the public.
Look around this web site and find something that interests you. Then go see it
in person. The information you find here will add to the pleasure of exploring
public art in Central Florida.
If, in your travels around Orange County, you come across some public art that
is not listed here, please let us know so we can add it. If you are aware of
additional information about art or artist that is included here, again, please
let us know. Together we can make this an incredible resource for people seeking
to spice up their life through exploring art.