Man Carving His Own Destiny

Among the foremost American sculptors of the twentieth century, Albín Polášek began his journey of success in the Moravian town Frenštát, now part of the Czech Republic. Economic hardship forced his immigration to the United States in 1901, when he was twenty-two years of age. Still struggling in the early years, he worked in a factory carving wooden altars and sculptures for churches. Once able to pursue his lifelong interest in art and particularly sculpture, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where as a student created his first version in 1907 of Man Carving his own Destiny, for which he subsequently won an award. His success in art school was immediate. He also received the Prix de Rome for his sculpture of Faith, Hope, and Charity. This prestigious award gave him the opportunity to study in Italy for three years, where he would witness first-hand the monumental, classical sculpture of Michelangelo and Bernini, to name only a few.

His first stop back in the United States was New York, but it would be Chicago where he made his home for three decades beginning in 1916, as he was named head of the sculpture department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After his retirement, he moved to Florida in 1950 and shortly thereafter Polášek suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side. Confined to wheelchair, he was undeterred in his drive to achieve. He adapted and learned to paint, draw and (with assistance) sculpt clay with his right hand. A bachelor for most of his life, he found love late and married when he was seventy years of age. His bride died shortly thereafter, but he remarried, and his second wife was seminal in establishing a museum in Winter Park Florida devoted to his art, The Albín Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens, which now serves as a legacy to his achievements.

The Union League sculpture Man Carving his own Destiny putatively represents the fourth version Polášek created among several in different sizes. The design became so popular, and requests for it so frequent, that he found the adulation a burden! But understandably its powerful message combined with the high finish and classical ideal appealed universally. On a personal level, the sculpture symbolizes his struggle to establish himself in the world. On a general level, it embodies the American value of being a "self-made man." The form betrays his classical training, in that the musculature is emphasized, and a differentiation of the textures is masterfully communicated. Overall, Man Carving his own Destiny represents the American pioneering spirit of the early twentieth century. Polášek lived exactly that American dream. He carved himself in many respects out of nothing, starting from ground up—just as visualized in his sculpture.

He was a passionate individual, and very grateful for his success. He once remarked in a speech:

I am like a piece of rock which has been broken off of the Carpathian Mountains in the heart of Czechoslovakia. Later this crude stone was transported to the Land of the Free: the United States of America. This block of stone was myself. Through the opportunities that this country gave me, I started to carve out my destiny…