Thursday Doors

Linking up at Norm's Thursday Doors.

January 2017 - Orlando FL

Click here to visit the Albin Polasek Sculpture Garden and here to visit the chapel.

His private chapel.

Albin Polasek Sculpture Gardens

January 2017 - Orlando FL

I covered some of our visit to the Albin Polasek Sculpture Gardens in an inSPIREd Sunday post which showed his religious pieces of art.

To recap:
Internationally known Czech-American sculptor Albin Polasek's story is one of perseverance, hard work and the pursuit of the American Dream. He arrived in the U.S. as an immigrant, led the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago, and continued to create artwork with one hand, from his wheelchair, after a paralyzing stroke.

Walking up to the museum entrance we see these sculptures.

Using as his inspiration the parable of Jesus about the sower – “a sower went forth to sow” – Polasek’s interpretation shows a man scattering the seed of good throughout the world. Sower won an Honorable Mention in the spring 1913 Paris Salon.

“…all at once the idea took concrete form before his mind’s eye: Man, blindly hewing his way out of darkness, carving his own destiny! (Polasek) could hardly wait to get home to start his composition. Man, chiseling himself, struggling to hack out his own character, carving his future by the effort of his will – it was part of his life, just what he himself had done, and into this composition he threw his whole soul, expressing himself more fully than he had ever done before.” Sherwood, Ruth. Carving His Own Destiny. Chicago: Ralph Fletcher Sey­mour, 1954, p. 178.

The setting is a three-acre garden oasis on Lake Osceola. The lush gardens provide a colorful backdrop for 50 outdoor sculptures.

We are immediately struck by this elegant sculpture in the courtyard.

Polasek created a fountain as a wedding gift for his second wife in 1961. ''Emily'' depicts a kneeling woman playing a harp. The harp strings are formed by tiny streams of water that fall into the reflecting pool beneath her feet.

We enter and pay our admission of $5. There is a temporary exhibit on display.

Frantz Zephirin is one of the leading contemporary painters working in Haiti today. A self-taught artist born in Cap Haitien in 1968, Zephirin has variously been described as a visionary, a surrealist, a visual satirist and an “historic animalist”. His work has been featured in museums and galleries around the world.

We both love the colour and vibrancy of his work.

Finally we are in the gardens.

Wasserman/King Under The Sea – Concrete 1962

Created as the female companion to Man Carving His Own Destiny, Polasek saw woman, at last breaking through the clouds of ignorance and superstition into the full light of freedom. Art critic Dorothy Grafly (daughter of Polasek’s mentor, Charles Grafly) wrote the following observation in the winter of 1925 after Unfettered was awarded a top prize at the Philadelphia Annual Exhibition:"

The epitome of Polasek’s allegorical works, this original memorial on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, IL, was erected in honor of Theodore Thomas, founder of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It is fully unrepresentative of the majesty and sweep of a symphony.
A challenging commission, Polasek created several models of the work. Of his final version Polasek stated, “… (the sculpture is) dignified, yet simple, assertive, but not too bold; a feminine figure, yes, yet not too feminine.”

The Slavonic god Svan­tovit evokes holiness and wisdom. His four heads facing north, south, east and west contain all of the knowledge that he has amassed to rule the four corners of the earth. Svan­tovit sits astride his horse, carrying a sword for justice and a horn through which he utters prophesies.

inSPIREd Sunday

January 2017 - Orlando FL


We went to this fabulous Sculpture Garden the other day and a lot of the works were religious so I will feature those pieces here.

Click here to see his other works.


Albin Polasek (February 14, 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 & Sculpture Gardens in Winter Park, Florida.

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.


In 1950, Polasek retired at age 70 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, including "Victory of Moral Law," the artist's comment on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Towards the end of 1950,at age 71, he married former student Ruth Sherwood who died 22 months later in October, 1952. In 1961, Polasek married Emily Muska Kubat. Upon his death in 1965, Polasek was buried beside his first wife in Winter Park's Palm Cemetery, where his 12th Station of the Cross (1939) is his monument. Emily M. K. Polasek died in 1988.


This was his retirement home and now houses the office, gallery and his studio.









The first thing that you see when you step into the garden is the Stations of the Cross.
These discs depict the Stations of the Cross, 14 key moments in the final hours of the life of Jesus. The installation is in the Polasek Museum's sculpture gardens.
The originals are in St. Cecelia's Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Stations of the Cross, the monumental work of renowned artist Albin Polasek, are the circular medallions on the pillars of the nave. The fourteen stations, sculptured and then cast in bronze relief, consumed three years of the artist's time and talents. Polasek considered these his crowning work of sculpture. And, as is the habit of old world artists, modeled his self portrait as one of the figures in the twelfth station.


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Madonna and Child




The original Pilgrim at the Eternal Gate is in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.






He put a corn cob in her hand to acknowledge the hard work of corn farmers. He called it “Our Lady of Corn”, but it ended up being called “Our Lady of Nebraska” by the church.












On display in his studio is his earliest work in the collection, Nativity, which Polasek carved when he was just 15 years old. He used his family cow and villagers from his hometown in Frenstat, Moravia as models for the figures. He also used natural dyes, such as berries and rust, as paints.


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While living in Chicago he created the original Forest Idyll; "Victorious Christ" for St. Cecelia's Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska.


There are several versions of the crucifix at the museum.

Deter­mined that this cru­ci­fix for the Main Altar at St. Cecilia Cathe­dral should be his supreme achieve­ment, Polasek devoted a large part of 1939 in mak­ing sketch after sketch in plas­ti­lene clay. One of these stud­ies, upon which he had worked for many weeks, he had cast in plas­ter – only to dis­card it as sta­tic and unin­spired. And then sud­denly, he found what he wanted. Start­ing a new model one morn­ing, he fin­ished it in a day: the fig­ure almost seemed to make itself. There is no sug­ges­tion of defeat in this fig­ure. It shows the dying Christ at the moment of his utter­ance, “Father, for­give them, for they know not what they do!” The head is uplifted, the whole fig­ure vibrant and alight with the tri­umph of the spirit over suf­fer­ing and death.

There is one in the gardens.





Another in the studio.







He was also an active member at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. Polasek’s artwork was highly influenced by his catholic upbringing. About one-third of his sculptures are religious in nature. Polasek also restored Lake Eola Park’s Confederate Memorial after vandals damaged it in 1964.








When he had a stroke he built a chapel beside his home so he could go there for solitude and meditation.












These were done in crayon after his stroke. The right side of his body was not affected so he turned to art.





If you look closely at the man in the bottom right corner you will see Polasek inserting himself kissing the sash of Jesus.










“St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio,” dedicated in 1933, was created by Ruth Sherwood, his first wife, another one stands in Chautauqua NY and in Riverside CA.







This is Ruth's sculpture of Albin.