Highlights Archives
George Pollard (1920-2008)
The state of Wisconsin and the world of art mourn the passing of noted portrait artist George Pollard, who died April 17, 2008, at his home in Kenosha. Pollard started drawing while growing up in Waldo, Wisconsin, and studied art formally after graduating from high school. His career began while serving in the Marines during World War II. For the next six decades, Pollard sketched and painted more than 5,000 portraits of the rich and famous. Among the subjects who sat for him were Presidents Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy and Reagan, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Court Justices William O. Douglas and William Rehnquist, Wisconsin governors Lee Sherman Dreyfus and Tommy Thompson, sports figures Muhammad Ali, Bart Starr, Brett Favre, and Vince Lombardi, and entertainers Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, and Oprah Winfrey. His portrait of Pope John Paul II won the Pontiff's Medal, an honor usually reserved for heads of state.
In 2006 the Wisconsin Historical Society celebrated the lifetime achievements of George and his wife, illustrator Nan Pollard, during its first annual History Makers Gala.
The Society has four of George Pollard's portraits in its collection, and in 2007 Pollard donated to the Society the palette and brushes he used to paint many of his famous portraits.
:: Posted April 25, 2008
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