Władysław Gruberski was a Polish sculptor and medalist. In 1886 he began a training as a stonemason. He studied in Krakow, Wien, München, Roma, and Paris. For a few years, he returned to Poland in 1899 but went to Paris again in 1904 to stay until 1909. During the following years, he moved back and forth between Warsaw, Vilnius, St. Petersburg, where he founded an art school and a puppet theatre, Paris and Kyiv. Since 1918, he was a permanent resident in Warsaw. In 1920, he became a member of the Polish Military Mission in Paris. He was a member of Towarzystwo Zachey Sztuk Pienych (Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts). Gruberski primarily devoted himself to portrait sculpture, designing busts, heads, bas-reliefs, medals, plaques, and created several military badges for the Polish army. But he also created altars for churches, monuments, and grave monuments. In 1907 he was awarded by the Societe Nationale des BA in Paris. He was influenced by French Impressionism and worked with great technical skills in bronze, stone, marble and plaster. In 1933, he died suddenly from a heart attack on the street. He was the brother of composer Eugeniusz Gruberski. Only the badge for military pilots known today as GAPA can be associated with his submitted medals and badges.
Poland