The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Garden

Winter Park, Florida's Albin Polasek Museum andPolasek apprenticed as a wood carver in Vienna
Sculpture Garden is one of the most elegant andbefore emigrating to the United States at the age of
respected venues for the art in the American22 and eventually became an American citizen.
southeast. It is home to impressive collections of allPolasek began his formal art training at the
kinds and beautiful, peaceful grounds. The museum isPennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
on the National Register of Historic Places.He produced Man Carving His Own Destiny (1907) and
Albin Polasek (1879-1965) is widely considered one ofEternal Moment (1909), two of his earliest well-known
the most important American sculptors most of thesculptures.
20th century. Celebrated in his own lifetime, PolasekIn 1961, the Albin Polasek Foundation was founded by
strove to show the beauty of "movement," the flow ofPolasek and his wife. Polasek had a deep appreciation
one mass into another. Polasek's ability to capture thefor an uncomplicated aesthetic, and as a result the
spirit of his subject was a major influence on agardens are quiet and subdued, utilizing gardening art in
generation of sculptors like Richmond Barthe and Ruthclassic form. The Foundation has added to the culture
Sherwood. Upon his death in 1965, Polasek was buriedof Winter Park and Central Florida by donating
alongside first wife Ruth Sherwood in Winter Park'ssculptures like Forest Idyl and Emily Fountain to the City
Palms Cemetery, where the 12th Station of the Crossof Winter Park, Florida and loaning Man Carving His
(1939) is his monument. Albin Polasek was grantedOwn Destiny to the Winter Park Public Library long
posthumously the honor of Great Floridian and inductedterm. The Museum also provides art scholarships to
into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004.the University of Central Florida, Rollins College and
Born in 1879 in what is now the Czech Republic,Crealde School of Art.