Theresa Pollak was an American artist and art educator born in Richmond, Virginia.
Education
After graduating from John Marshall High School, Pollak accepted a scholarship to attend Westhampton College at the University of Richmond. She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate, and her alma mater University of Richmond presented Pollak an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts on May 13, 1973.
Career
She was a nationally known painter and she is largely credited with the founding of Virginia Commonwealth University"s School of the Arts. She was a teacher at VCU"s School of the Arts between 1928 and 1969. Her art has been exhibited in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, District of Columbia She died at the age of 103 on September 18, 2002.
In 1932, she was awarded a fellowship to the Tiffany Foundation in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
In 1933 she was awarded a Carnegie Fellowship at Fogg Museum, Harvard University. In 1928, the School of Art opened at the Richmond Division of the College of William and Mary under Theresa Pollak"s leadership.
The first location of the School of Arts was the loft of the Saunders-Willard house stable. By 1970 it had expanded into the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University., also known as VCU School of the Arts.
Theresa Pollak was an early member and Vice President of the Richmond Artists" Association (also known as RAA) from 1958-1959.
In 1978, she became a lifetime Honorary Member and was a frequent exhibitor with RAA as long as that organization existed.