Anthony Frudakis
Anthony Frudakis was born at Bellows Falls, Vermont on July 30, 1953 to EvAngelos William and Virginia (Parker) Frudakis. His father, a figurative sculptor, began a career as assistant to Paul Manship and Jo Davidson and studied at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the American Academy in Rome. His mother was a painter and graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Although he grew up in an artistic environment he was allowed to pursue his own interests. While working toward a pre-law degree at Duke University he enrolled in a sculpture course which determined him in 1973 to leave college and become an apprentice in his father's studio. During this time he compiled a portfolio of work which earned scholarships to continue his art studies.

With tuition scholarships from the Dolfinger McMahon Foundation in 1973 and the National Sculpture Society in 1974 he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. While at the Academy, Frudakis received honorable mention in 1975 and was awarded the Edmund Stewardson Prize in 1976 in a competition for the best full-length figure from life. After receiving a certificate from the Academy in April 1976, he was awarded a Bache Foundation Traveling Grant, using it to travel and study in London, Paris, Florence, Rome and Athens.

In 1976 the Frudakis Academy of the Fine Arts was founded in Philadelphia. In addition to teaching there, Anthony Frudakis served as the academy's director. To increase his knowledge of the human form he studied anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania in 1977 and, in the same year, taught sculpture and drawing in the evenings at Stockton State College at Pomona, New Jersey. He received the John Spring Art Founder Award at the National Sculpture Society's 1977 annual exhibition for best portrait, a life-size head of a young woman entitled Deborah. Portrait of a Wrestler, a small bust of young male athlete, was modeled in 1978 and exhibited at the National Academy of Design. For Calypso, a recumbent female nude, he was awarded the Walter Lantz Youth Prize in 1978 by the National Sculpture Society.

Although Frudakis had assisted with several of his father's major commissions, in 1978 he received his first independent commission by winning a statewide competition to create a statue commemorating the 100th anniversary of Atlantic City High School in New Jersey. The Viking, a life-size bronze figure of the school logo, was installed in 1979. In 1981 Frudakis won a commendation from the National Sculpture Society when he submitted the plaster model of this work to the Society's Young Sculptor's Awards program. His work was being recognized in his home state by 1979 and earned First Prize that year in the New Jersey State Juried Art Show. Wave Rider, a male swimmer buoyed on a crest of a wave, was cast in bronze in 1979. By 1981 he had a studio in New York City where a series of figures depicting Greek gods and goddesses was commissioned by Metaxa, the Greek cognac manufacturer.

At the same time he taught sculpture at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. But after a few years, he relocated to the area of his former home in southern New Jersey. One sculpture, in particular, has garnered a number of prizes for Anthony Frudakis. A life-size female nude standing with her arms draped over her head, eyes closed in a dreamy expression, was exhibited at the Allied Artists of America where it won the Maurice B. Hexter Award in 1982. In that year the National Sculpture Society awarded it a Gold Medal at its annual exhibition. In 1988, for this work, the Society gave Frudakis the Walter and Michael Lantz Prize stating that the sculpture "demonstrated ability in the use of form composition and comprehension of techniques." Prior to that, the National Sculpture Society had recognized his accomplishments in 1983 by awarding to Anthony Frudakis the prestigious Gloria Medal for a meritorious body of work by a Young Sculptor.

As his technique matured, the sculptor began to produce work on a larger scale. A monumental bas-relief depicting the winged horse, Pegasus, was created in 1983 for the Atlantic County Library in Hammonton, New Jersey. In 1986 Frudakis received commissions from two Atlantic City hotels, Summer, a monumental bronze group of a young, bathing suit-clad couple, running on the beach, was created for the Tropicana Hotel & Casino. A life-size Otter Fountain in cold cast bronze was placed in the health spa at Bally's Park Palace Hotel & Casino.

Prior to working on this commission, the sculptor observed and videotaped the animals at play in the otter exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. Additional research of their bone and muscle structure was done at the University of Pennsylvania and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The inherent underwater grace and playful nature of the species is depicted in the group of seven otters forming a figure-eight composition. In 1986 he was awarded the Leonard Meiselman Prize at the annual exhibition of the National Sculpture Society for Floating Nude. Two years later a Mother and Child, installed in cold cast bronze, was commissioned by the Atlantic City Day Nursery. In 1989, for the Cape May Court House, Anthony Frudakis designed a monumental bas-relief entitled Justice. His bronze portrait bust of the physician and medical researcher, Dr. Charles Drew, was unveiled at the opening of Drew Court, a housing project built by the Atlantic City Improvement Authority.

Frudakis is a fellow of the National Sculpture Society and has served on the Atlantic City Fine Arts Commission. For many years he lived and worked in Linwood, New Jersey where he derived inspiration from the seashore environment. In 1991 he moved to Hillsdale, Michigan, where he is sculptor in residence at Hillsdale College.