Paula Himmelsbach Balano - 1877-1967 - Biographical Excerpt - King of Prussia Excerpt - Spring 2015

She was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1877 and moved to Philadelphia at the age of two. She attended Drexel Institute (now Drexel University) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1899 she won the Academy’s Cresson Travelling Scholarship that enabled her to study in Paris under Alphonse Mucha, noted Czech artist. On returning to the United States, Balano continued her artistic training, first with Cecilia Beaux and later with William Merritt Chase. She supported herself as a portrait painter and teacher, serving on the faculty of the School of Design for Women, now Moore College of Art, from 1910 to 1934. 

Balano was already in her forties when she entered the stained glass profession. She first apprenticed with Nicola D’Ascenzo in Philadelphia. Several years later, in 1925, Balano opened her own studio in Germantown. In 1928 she received her first major commission, for twenty-nine stained glass windows in St. Stephens Church (Philadelphia). The church closed in 1993 and the windows were purchased by the Archdiocese of New York for adaptive reuse projects. Balano may have been the first independent woman in the field at a time when all studio proprietors were men. She usually executed all of the work herself, from initial design to completed panel, receiving assistance only for the final stages of installation. Paula operated her studio at 22nd and Spring Garden Streets until the Great Depression, and then moved to Germantown until her death.