Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens (633 Osceola Ave, Winter Park, FL) was kind enough to allow my Sunday morning Crealde Urban Sketch Class students a chance to sketch in their gorgeous sculpture garden. I decided to do a very quick sketch of a student as she sketched The Sower.
The Sower created in 1911 is a prime example of Polasek’s mastery of the human form, the dramatically
modeled figure of the Sower has a classically inspired face and a
strong, muscular body. Using the parable of Jesus about the sower – “a
sower went forth to sow” – as his inspiration, 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.
Albin Polasek, (born February 14, 1879 and died 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.
In 1950, Polasek retired at age 70 to Winter Park, Florida, designing his home on picturesque Lake Osceola.
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, 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.