Polansky (Arthur) is born in Lynn.

The son of Russian immigrants Benjamin and Celia (Hurwitz) Polanksy, Arthur Polansky moves with them to Roxbury in 1938, graduates from Roxbury Memorial High School, studies at the Hebrew Teachers’ College, where a teacher encourages him to accept a scholarship to the School of Museum of Fine Arts by saying, “You can be a Jew and an artist – go.” He studies in Paris, returns to Boston, marries artist Lois Tarlow in 1953, and moves to Newton. Polansky becomes a member of the Boston Expressionists, teaches at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Brandeis, and Boston University. He dies in Newton on April 4, 2019.