Carved marble polar bear sculpture by Gert Olsen. Done in 1999. Signed under base with label. Piece is white toned & solid marble. Sculpture & base are significantly weighted. Piece measures approx 32 inches tall 13 inches deep 7 inches wide.General wear throughout including scratches and tape residue. Pedestal seat and base are rough hewn. Possible crackling, possible natural striations of stone. Gert Olsen was born and educated in Denmark. He immigrated to Canada in 1956 then to the United States in 1962 where he gained citizenship. He as been a resident of Florida since 1984.Gert started his career as a woodcarver which expanded into church carving. He transitioned to stone in the late 70's.All of Olsen's stone is personally picked from quarries and stone yards in the United States and Europe. The stone block is initially cut and shaped with modern saws and cutters, then further shaped with traditional carving equipment, including chisels both pneumatic and manual. The process continues with sanding, using many grades of sandpaper and culminates with polishing.One of his larger commissions is a larger-than-life bear family at the Nalples Bear Museum, Naples, Florida. He has work in numerous private and corporate collections. Olsen has shown his work all over the United States at major art shows and has had work shown in galleries in New York, Michigan, Pennsylvannia, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois and Florida. His work is in art collections in England, Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan and his native Denmark.He is a member of the International Sculpture Center, Washington, D.C. and has received numerous awards at fine art shows. 6