Ivan Olinsky: Studies & Apprenticeships

"The Adjustments of Conflicting Interest" by John LaFarge
in the Supreme Court Room, Minnesota State Capitol, Saint Paul

"Moral and Divine Law" by John LaFarge
in the Supreme Court Room, Minnesota State Capitol, Saint Paul

"The Relation of the Individual to the State" by John LaFarge
in the Supreme Court Room, Minnesota State Capitol, Saint Paul

"The Recording of Precedents" by John LaFarge
in the Supreme Court Room, Minnesota State Capitol, Saint Paul

"On the basis of a drawing of an antique sculpture that Ivan Olinsky submitted, he was able to enroll in the National Academy of Design in 1894, when he was sixteen. At the Academy, he initially enrolled in the antique class, but quickly advanced to the life class. His teachers included Francis Coates Jones, Edgar Melville Ward, Charles Yardley Turner, and George Willoughby Maynard.

At the conclusion of his studies at the Academy, Olinsky assisted Maynard, an important mural painter, with decorative commissions. Through Maynard, Olinsky met Elmer E. Garnsey, who had a firm on Park Avenue that specialized in decorative work for public buildings. Garnsey, in turn, introduced Olinsky to John La Farge, who hired him as a studio assistant. Olinsky worked with La Farge on mural commissions for the Supreme Court Room of the Minnesota Capital and for the Baltimore Courthouse. He also assisted La Farge with designs for stained glass windows.

Although Olinsky craved a career of his own, he continued to work for La Farge until 1906, when he left for Europe with his wife, Genevieve Karfunkle, the sister of a fellow student from the Academy, who he had married in 1904. While living in Venice from 1906 until 1909, he created small scale spontaneously rendered street scenes."

To be continued

(Excerpts from the biography of Ivan Olinsky from Spanierman Gallery's website.)