Theresa Pollak (August 13, 1899 – September 18, 2002) was an American artist and art educator born in Richmond, Virginia.

She was a nationally known painter, and she is largely credited with the founding of Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts.

The subjects of her work include still lifes, landscapes, portraits, and figure studies that are explorations of form, color, and space.

[3] After graduating from John Marshall High School, Pollak accepted a scholarship to attend Westhampton College at the University of Richmond, where she earned a B.S.

[4] She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate, and her alma mater University of Richmond presented Pollak an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts on May 13, 1973.

From 1912 to 1917, Theresa Pollak studied at the Richmond Art Club under Adele Clark and Nora Houston.

She then received a scholarship to study at the Art Students League of New York from 1921 to 1926 with artists such as modernist Max Weber and in the late 1950s with abstract expressionist Hans Hoffmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Student enrollment increased and in 1935, Pollak became a full-time Professor of Art at Richmond Professional Institute (now VCU).

As the School of the Arts grew in the number of faculty, departments, and students, Pollack strove to unify VCUarts.

Honorees have included: Bosnian-born artist Tanja Softić, Professor of Art at the University of Richmond (2012); television writer, producer, and director Vince Gilligan; visual artist Sonya Clark (2014);[15] theater set designer Terrie Moore; and in 2017, painter Thomas Van Auken.