Oscars 2017: Statuettes ‘Croatian Made’ Again

by croatiaweek
January 24, 2017
in Business

Croatian connection to this year’s Oscar statuettes (photo: polich tallix)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 2017 Academy Awards on Tuesday, 24 January 2017.

This year’s winners, when they are revealed at the Oscars on 26 February, will be taking home the famous Oscar statuette, which for the second year in a row have a Croatian connection.

Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in New York, which is owned by the son of Croatian immigrants, have once again manufactured the famous Oscar statuette for the Academy Awards.

(photo: polich tallix)

For over 30 years the Oscar statuettes were made by a Chicago trophy firm, but last year the Academy selected Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry to take over the duties.

Polich Tallix was founded by Dick Polich. Polich (83), which was originally Polić, descended from the small village of Zlobin, which is situated between Primorje and Gorski Kotar and is just 13 km from Bakra on the northern Adriatic coast.

Dick Polich (photo: pollich tallix)

Polich’s parents came to America at the beginning of the 1920s and he 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 15 years ago.

Bakar – near where Polich’s are from

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

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.