US company with Croatian connection making the Oscar statuette again

by croatiaweek
February 9, 2019
in Business

The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, honouring the best films of 2018, will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on February 24.

Hit films of last year like Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born and Vice will battle it out for Best Picture, whilst Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, William Defoe and Rami Malek, Lady Gaga and Melissa McCarthy are some nominated for best actor and actress.

This year’s winners, when they are revealed at the Oscars later this month, will be taking home the famous Oscar statuette, which for the fourth year in a row will have a Croatian connection.

Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in New York, which is owned by the son of Croatian immigrants, is once again manufacturing the famous Oscar statuette for the Academy Awards. For over 30 years the Oscar statuettes were made by a Chicago trophy firm, but two years ago the Academy selected Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry to take over the duties.

Polich Tallix was founded by Dick Polich. Polich’s (Polić) parents came to America at the beginning of the 1920s from the small village of Zlobin, which is situated between Primorje and Gorski Kotar near Bakar on the northern Adriatic coast. Dick grew up in a western Chicago suburb among the Croatian immigrant community.

Polich’s parents came to America at the beginning of the 1920s from the small village of Zlobin, which is situated between Primorje and Gorski Kotar on the northern Adriatic coast. Dick grew up in a western Chicago suburb among the Croatian immigrant community.

He has said in interviews that he does not know too much about Croatia but does remember the stories and legends he was told as a kid. He last visited Croatia over 20 years ago and says that he has not spoken Croatian since his mother died 17 years ago.

Polich Tallix was among the first in the United States to offer technical expertise and industrial capabilities in metalworking, which had previously been only capable in Europe.

Polich Tallix making the Oscar statuette

Polich, who went to Yale University on a football scholarship and graduated with an economics degree before founding his own foundry, has made thousands of sculptures in his career, and worked with more than five hundred artists. At the foundry at any one time, work is being carried out on over two hundred different works of art, from architectural elements to US national monuments, to small sculptures and other art pieces.