Ivan Meštrovic
Encyclopedia
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian
and Yugoslav
sculptor
and architect
born in Vrpolje
, Croatia
(then Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
, an autonomous kingdom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He is renowned as possibly the greatest sculptor of religious subject matter since the Renaissance
, the first living person to have a one man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York City
.
n hinterland.
At the age of sixteen, a master stone cutter from Split
Pavle Bilinić noticed his talent and he took him as an apprentice. His artistic skills were improved by studying the monumental buildings in the city and his education at the hands of Bilinić's wife, who was a high-school teacher. Soon, they found a mine owner from Vienna
who paid for Meštrović to move there and be admitted to the Art Academy. He had to quickly learn German
from scratch and adjust to the new environment, but he persevered and successfully finished his studies.
In 1905 he made his first exhibit with the Secession Group in Vienna, noticeably influenced with the Art Nouveau
style. His work quickly became popular, even with the likes of Auguste Rodin
, and he soon earned enough for him and his wife (since 1904) Ruža Klein to travel to more international exhibitions.
and the sculptures made in this period earned him international reputation. in this time, Ivan was friend of the cubist painter Jelena Dorotka
(Helene Dorotka von Ehrenwall). In 1911 he moved to Belgrade
, and soon after to Rome
where he received the grand prix for the Serbia
n Pavilion on the 1911 Rome International Exhibition. He remained in Rome to spend four years studying ancient Greek
sculpture.
At the onset of World War I
, after the assassination in Sarajevo, Meštrović tried to move back to Split via Venice
, but was dissuaded by threats made because of his political opposition to the Austro-Hungarian
authorities. During the war he also travelled to make exhibits in Paris
, Cannes
, London
and in Switzerland
. He was one of the members of the Yugoslav Committee
.
After World War I he moved back home to the newly formed Yugoslavia
and met the second love of his life, Olga Kesterčanek, whom he married shortly after. They had four children: Marta, Tvrtko, Maria and Mate, all of who were born in Zagreb
, where they settled in 1922. He was a contemporary and friend of Nikola Tesla
http://www.teslasociety.com/ivan.htm. Mestrovic and family would later spend the winter months in their mansion in Zagreb and the summer months in a summer house he built by the end of the 1930s in Split. He became a professor and later the director of the Art Institute in Zagreb, and proceeded to build numerous internationally renowned works as well as many donated chapels and churches and grants to art students.
By 1923 he designed the mausoleum for the Račić family at Cavtat
, and he also created a set of statues for a never-built Yugoslav national temple that would be erected in Kosovo
to commemorate the battle
that happened there in 1389.
He continued to travel to post his exhibits around the world: he displayed at the Brooklyn Museum in New York
in 1924, in Chicago
in 1925, he even traveled to Egypt
and Palestine
in 1927. In 1927 he entered a design for the coins of the Irish Free State
, and though his design arrived too late for consideration it was adopted in 1965 as the seal of the Central Bank of Ireland
.
Being in conflict with both the Italians (since he opposed their irredentist
territorial pursuit of Dalmatia
) and the Germans (since he declined Hitler's invitation to Berlin
in the 1930s), he was imprisoned for three and a half months by the Ustaše
during World War II
. With help from the Vatican
he was released. He first travelled to Venice where he attended the Croatian
pavilion at the Venice Biennale
. From there he relocated to Rome, and later to Switzerland. Unfortunately not all of his family managed to escape—his first wife Ruža died in 1942 and many from her Jewish family were killed in the Holocaust
. Later, his brother Petar was imprisoned by the emerging Communists, which further depressed the artist. Marshal Josip Broz Tito
's government in Yugoslavia
eventually invited Meštrović back, but he refused to live in a communist country.
In 1946, Syracuse University
offered him a professorship, and he moved to the United States
. He was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal
for sculpture in 1953. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
personally presided over the 1954 ceremony granting Meštrović American citizenship. He went on to become a professor at the University of Notre Dame
in 1955.
The early deaths of two of his children preceded his own. His daughter Marta, who moved with him to the US, died in 1949 at the age of 24; his son Tvrtko, who remained in Zagreb, was 39 when he died in 1961. In 1961, Meštrović's memoirs Uspomene na političke ljude i događaje were published by the Croatian emigrant publishing house Hrvatska revija
(Croatian Review) in Buenos Aires
, Argentina
. In 1969, they were published by Matica hrvatska
in Zagreb
.
After creating four clay sculptures to memorialize his children, Ivan Meštrović died in early 1962 at the age of 79, in South Bend, Indiana
. Meštrović's funeral was presided by bishop of Šibenik Josip Arnerić, while the bishop of Split
Frane Franić spoke at the burial. His remains were interred at a mausoleum
in his childhood home of Otavice.
His son Matthew (Mate) Meštrović
is an American university professor of Modern European history and worked as a Contributing Editor of Time magazine, served as a lieutenant in the US Army PsyWar. He was president of the Croatian National congress and lobbied on behalf of Croatian self determination in Washington ,Western Europe and Australia and a deputy in the Croatian Parliament , member of Croatia’s delegation to the Council of Europe and the Interparliamentary Union and served as ambassador in the Foreign Ministry, recipient of Croatian and Bulgarian decorations. Because of his father's and his own political anticommunist believes and commitment to freedom was declared by the Yugoslav regime enemy Number One of the Yugoslav State and a top CIA agent.
His grandson Stjepan
is a sociology professor at Texas A&M
and author of several books.
He created over fifty monuments during his two years in Paris (1908–1910).
The theme of the Battle of Kosovo
particularly moved him, prompting one of his first great works, the Paris Kosovo Monument, and other works in bronze and stone. A lot of his early work revolved around such epic moments from Slavic history in an attempt to foster the pan-Slavic cause in his native country.
With the creation of the first Yugoslavia, his focus shifted to more mundane topics such as musical instruments or chapels. He particularly oriented himself towards religious items, mostly made of wood, under artistic influence from the Byzantine
and Gothic architecture
. The most renowned works from the early period are the Crucifix and Madonna; later he became more impressed by Michelangelo Buonarroti and created a large number of stone reliefs and portraits. The Croatian dinar
featured Meštrović's work History of the Croats.
His most famous monuments include:
Galleries including his work include:
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and Yugoslav
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora...
sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
born in Vrpolje
Vrpolje
Vrpolje is a village and a municipality in Brod-Posavina County, Croatia. It is located 10 km south of Đakovo; elevation 90 m. The population of the village is 2,110, while the total municipality population is 4,023. Chief occupations are farming and livestock breeding...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
(then Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia or Croatia Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was part of the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen or Transleithania...
, an autonomous kingdom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He is renowned as possibly the greatest sculptor of religious subject matter since the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, the first living person to have a one man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Early life
He spent his childhood in Otavice, a small village located on edge of Petrovo field in DalmatiaDalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
n hinterland.
At the age of sixteen, a master stone cutter from Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
Pavle Bilinić noticed his talent and he took him as an apprentice. His artistic skills were improved by studying the monumental buildings in the city and his education at the hands of Bilinić's wife, who was a high-school teacher. Soon, they found a mine owner from Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
who paid for Meštrović to move there and be admitted to the Art Academy. He had to quickly learn German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
from scratch and adjust to the new environment, but he persevered and successfully finished his studies.
In 1905 he made his first exhibit with the Secession Group in Vienna, noticeably influenced with the Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
style. His work quickly became popular, even with the likes of Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, and he soon earned enough for him and his wife (since 1904) Ruža Klein to travel to more international exhibitions.
During World War I and II
In 1908 Meštrović moved to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and the sculptures made in this period earned him international reputation. in this time, Ivan was friend of the cubist painter Jelena Dorotka
Jelena Dorotka
Jelena Hoffmann Dorotka , was a cubist painter. She was the daughter of the countess Maria Malvina de Bonda and Joseph Dorotka von Ehrenwall....
(Helene Dorotka von Ehrenwall). In 1911 he moved to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, and soon after to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
where he received the grand prix for the Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n Pavilion on the 1911 Rome International Exhibition. He remained in Rome to spend four years studying ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
sculpture.
At the onset of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, after the assassination in Sarajevo, Meštrović tried to move back to Split via Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, but was dissuaded by threats made because of his political opposition to the Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
authorities. During the war he also travelled to make exhibits in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. He was one of the members of the Yugoslav Committee
Yugoslav Committee
Yugoslav Committee was a political interest group formed by South Slavs from Austria-Hungary during World War I aimed at joining the existing south Slavic nations in an independent state.Founding members included:* Frano Supilo* Ante Trumbić...
.
After World War I he moved back home to the newly formed Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
and met the second love of his life, Olga Kesterčanek, whom he married shortly after. They had four children: Marta, Tvrtko, Maria and Mate, all of who were born in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, where they settled in 1922. He was a contemporary and friend of Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
http://www.teslasociety.com/ivan.htm. Mestrovic and family would later spend the winter months in their mansion in Zagreb and the summer months in a summer house he built by the end of the 1930s in Split. He became a professor and later the director of the Art Institute in Zagreb, and proceeded to build numerous internationally renowned works as well as many donated chapels and churches and grants to art students.
By 1923 he designed the mausoleum for the Račić family at Cavtat
Cavtat
Cavtat ) is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic seacoast 15 km south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality.-History:...
, and he also created a set of statues for a never-built Yugoslav national temple that would be erected in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
to commemorate the battle
Battle of Kosovo
The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...
that happened there in 1389.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1924, in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1925, he even traveled to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in 1927. In 1927 he entered a design for the coins of the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
, and though his design arrived too late for consideration it was adopted in 1965 as the seal of the Central Bank of Ireland
Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland
The Central Bank of Ireland is the financial services regulator of Ireland and historically the central bank. The bank was the issuer of Irish pound banknotes and coinage until the introduction of the euro currency, and now provides this service for the European Central Bank.The bank was founded...
.
Being in conflict with both the Italians (since he opposed their irredentist
Irredentism
Irredentism is any position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. Some of these movements are also called pan-nationalist movements. It is a feature of identity politics and cultural...
territorial pursuit of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
) and the Germans (since he declined Hitler's invitation to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in the 1930s), he was imprisoned for three and a half months by the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. With help from the Vatican
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
he was released. He first travelled to Venice where he attended the Croatian
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
pavilion at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. From there he relocated to Rome, and later to Switzerland. Unfortunately not all of his family managed to escape—his first wife Ruža died in 1942 and many from her Jewish family were killed in the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. Later, his brother Petar was imprisoned by the emerging Communists, which further depressed the artist. Marshal Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's government in Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
eventually invited Meštrović back, but he refused to live in a communist country.
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
offered him a professorship, and he moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals
Two American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals are awarded each year by the academy for distinguished achievement. The two awards are taken in rotation from these categories:*Belles Lettres and Criticism, and Painting;*Biography and Music;...
for sculpture in 1953. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
personally presided over the 1954 ceremony granting Meštrović American citizenship. He went on to become a professor at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in 1955.
Death and legacy
Before he died, Meštrović returned to Yugoslavia one last time in order to visit the imprisoned Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac and Tito himself. At the request of various people from his homeland he sent 59 statues from the United States to Yugoslavia (including the monument of Njegoš), and in 1952 even signed off his Croatian estates to the people, including over 400 sculptures and numerous drawings.The early deaths of two of his children preceded his own. His daughter Marta, who moved with him to the US, died in 1949 at the age of 24; his son Tvrtko, who remained in Zagreb, was 39 when he died in 1961. In 1961, Meštrović's memoirs Uspomene na političke ljude i događaje were published by the Croatian emigrant publishing house Hrvatska revija
Hrvatska revija
Hrvatska revija is a Croatian quarterly published by Matica hrvatska based in Zagreb.The magazine's original run lasted between 1928 and 1945 when it was published by MH and during which it became a renowned literary and cultural magazine...
(Croatian Review) in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. In 1969, they were published by Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
.
After creating four clay sculptures to memorialize his children, Ivan Meštrović died in early 1962 at the age of 79, in South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
. Meštrović's funeral was presided by bishop of Šibenik Josip Arnerić, while the bishop of Split
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Split-Makarska
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Split-Makarska is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Croatia. The diocese was established in 3 century AD and was made archidiocese and metropolitan see in 10 century. Modern diocese was erected in 1828, when the historical archdiocese...
Frane Franić spoke at the burial. His remains were interred at a mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
in his childhood home of Otavice.
His son Matthew (Mate) Meštrović
Mate Meštrovic
Mate Meštrović is an American journalist and academic, Croatian lobbyist, politician and ambassador. He is the son of the renowned Croatian and American sculptor Ivan Meštrović....
is an American university professor of Modern European history and worked as a Contributing Editor of Time magazine, served as a lieutenant in the US Army PsyWar. He was president of the Croatian National congress and lobbied on behalf of Croatian self determination in Washington ,Western Europe and Australia and a deputy in the Croatian Parliament , member of Croatia’s delegation to the Council of Europe and the Interparliamentary Union and served as ambassador in the Foreign Ministry, recipient of Croatian and Bulgarian decorations. Because of his father's and his own political anticommunist believes and commitment to freedom was declared by the Yugoslav regime enemy Number One of the Yugoslav State and a top CIA agent.
His grandson Stjepan
Stjepan Meštrovic
Dr. Stjepan Gabriel Meštrović is an American sociologist, professor, author of over fifteen books and a distinguished expert in matters of war crimes...
is a sociology professor at Texas A&M
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
and author of several books.
Work
The theme of the Battle of Kosovo
Battle of Kosovo
The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...
particularly moved him, prompting one of his first great works, the Paris Kosovo Monument, and other works in bronze and stone. A lot of his early work revolved around such epic moments from Slavic history in an attempt to foster the pan-Slavic cause in his native country.
With the creation of the first Yugoslavia, his focus shifted to more mundane topics such as musical instruments or chapels. He particularly oriented himself towards religious items, mostly made of wood, under artistic influence from the Byzantine
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
and Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
. The most renowned works from the early period are the Crucifix and Madonna; later he became more impressed by Michelangelo Buonarroti and created a large number of stone reliefs and portraits. The Croatian dinar
Croatian dinar
The dinar was the currency of Croatia between December 23, 1991, and May 30, 1994. The ISO 4217 code was HRD.-History:The Croatian dinar replaced the 1990 version of Yugoslav dinar at par. It was a transitional currency introduced following Croatia's declaration of independence. During its...
featured Meštrović's work History of the Croats.
His most famous monuments include:
- Gregory of NinGregory of NinGregory of Nin was a medieval Croatian bishop who strongly opposed the Pope and official circles of the Church and introduced the Croatian language in the religious services after the Great Assembly in 926. Until that time, services were held only in Latin, not being understandable to the majority...
in Split - Josip Juraj StrossmayerJosip Juraj StrossmayerJosip Juraj Strossmayer was a Croatian politician, Roman Catholic bishop and benefactor.-Early life and rise as a cleric:...
in Zagreb - Gratitude to France in Belgrade
- Monument to the Unknown HeroMonument to the Unknown HeroThe Monument to the Unknown Hero is located atop Mt. Avala in the south-east Belgrade perihpery, and was designed by the sculptor Ivan Meštrović.Memorial was built on the location of Žrnov fortress....
, Avala, Belgrade - Victor monument on Kalemegdan Fortress in BelgradeBelgradeBelgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
- Svetozar MiletićSvetozar MileticSvetozar Miletić was an advocate, politician, mayor of Novi Sad, and the political leader of Serbs in Vojvodina. He was the oldest of seven children born to Sima and Teodosija Miletić in the village of Mošorin in Šajkaška, the Serbian Military Frontier, on February 22, 1826...
in Novi SadNovi SadNovi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river.... - Nikola TeslaNikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
in Zagreb - History of Croats in the garden of Beli dvorBeli DvorBeli Dvor is a mansion located in Belgrade, Serbia. The mansion is part of the Royal Compound, a real estate of royal residences and parklands located in Dedinje, an exclusive area of Belgrade....
in BelgradeBelgradeBelgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, copy in the front of Zagreb University in Zagreb - Njegoš mausoleum on Mount LovćenMount LovcenLovćen is a mountain and national park in southwestern Montenegro.The Mount Lovćen rises from the borders of the Adriatic basin closing the long ang twisting bays of Boka Kotorska and making the hinterland to the coastal town of Kotor...
in Montenegro - The Spring of Life in Zagreb
- Domagoj'sDomagoj of CroatiaDomagoj was a duke of Dalmatian Croatia in 864–876. He is the founder of the House of Domagojević.Domagoj was a powerful Croatian nobelman, with lands around Knin. Following the death of Trpimir I in 864, he usurped the throne of Zdeslav in a civil war...
Archers in Zagreb (Meštrović Foundation) - The Bowman and The SpearmanThe Bowman and the SpearmanThe Bowman and The Spearman, also known as Indians, are two bronze equestrian sculptures standing as gatekeepers in Congress Plaza, at the intersection of Congress Drive and Michigan Avenue in Grant Park, Chicago, United States. The sculptures were made in Zagreb by Croatian sculptor Ivan...
in Chicago - Martin KukučínMartin KukucínMartin Kukučín was a Slovak prose writer, dramatist and publicist. He was the most notable representative of Slovak literary realism, and considered to be one of the founders of modern Slovak prose....
in the Medical Garden, Bratislava, Slovakia - Ionel I. C. Bratianu in Bucharest, Romania (24 noiembrie 1937)
- King Carol I in Bucharest, Romania (1939) - this monument was destroyed by communists after 1948
- Relief of Cardinal StepinacAloysius StepinacAloysius Viktor Stepinac , also known as Blessed Aloysius Stepinac, was a Croatian Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960. In 1998 he was declared a martyr and beatified by Pope John Paul II....
with Christ, Zagreb CathedralZagreb cathedralZagreb Cathedral on Kaptol is the most famous building in Zagreb, and the tallest building in Croatia. It is dedicated to the Holy Virgin's Ascension and to St. Stephen and St. Ladislaus. The cathedral is typically Gothic, as is its sacristy, which is of great architectonic value... - St. Jerome the PriestSt. Jerome the Priest (Meštrović)St. Jerome the Priest is a bronze statue, by Ivan Meštrović, located at 2343 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C..It was commissioned by the Croatian Franciscan Fathers, and originally located at the Abbey, 1359 Monroe Street, N.E., Washington, D.C., and was later moved to the Croatian...
, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Galleries including his work include:
- Ivan Meštrović GalleryIvan Meštrović GalleryIvan Meštrović Gallery , is an art museum in Split, Croatia dedicated to the work of the 20th-century sculptor, Ivan Meštrović. The gallery preserves and presents to the public the most significant works of Meštrović, and is in itself an art monument. The permanent collection includes works of...
in Split, formed after his major donation in 1950, which includes 86 statues in marble, stone, bronze, wood and gypsum, 17 drawings, and also eight bronze statues in the open garden, 28 reliefs in wood in the kaštelet and one stone crucifix - the Ivan Meštrović Memorial Gallery created in 1973 in VrpoljeVrpoljeVrpolje is a village and a municipality in Brod-Posavina County, Croatia. It is located 10 km south of Đakovo; elevation 90 m. The population of the village is 2,110, while the total municipality population is 4,023. Chief occupations are farming and livestock breeding...
, his birthplace, with 35 works in bronze and plaster stone - the National Museum of SerbiaNational Museum of SerbiaThe National Museum is the largest and oldest museum in Serbia. It is located in Republic Square, Belgrade, Serbia. The museum was established on May 10, 1844. Since it was founded, its collections have to over 400,000 objects including many foreign masterpieces...
holds sculptures and monuments (total 45 works) such as Miloš Obilić, Kosovo girl, Srđa Zlopogleđa, Kraljević Marko, Widow and,Baton Rouge has a large collection of sculpture and drawings.
Sources
- Agard, Walter Raymond, The New Architectural Sculpture, Oxford University Press, NY, NY 1935
- Aumonier, W., Modern Architectural Sculpture, The Architectural Press, London 1930
- Casson, Stanley, Some Modern Sculptors, Oxford University Press, London 1929
- Exhibition of Twenty-Five Panels, Hendricks Chapel, Syracuse University1950*
- Exploring the Mayo Art Collection, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota
- Goode, James M. The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington D. C., Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D. C. 1974
- Keckemet, Dusko, Ivan Mestrovic, Publishing House, Beograd, Jugoslavija 1964
- Keckemet, Dusko, Ivan Mestrovic – Split, Mestrovic Gallery Split and Spektar Zagreb, Yugoslavia 1969
- Keckemet, Dusko, Ivan Mestrovic, McGraw-Hill Book Company, NY, NY 1970
- Kvaran, Einar Einarsson Architectural Sculpture of America, unpublished manuscript
- Maryon, Herbert, Modern Sculpture – Its Methods and Ideals, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, LTD. London 1933
- Schmeckebier, Laurence, Ivan Mestrovic – Sculptor and Patriot, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY 1959
- The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington D. C. – America’s Tribute to Mary, C. Harrison Conroy Co. In., Newton NJ
External links
- Ivan Meštrović biography
- Ivan Mestrovic Foundation (English site)
- Ivan Mestrovic in Italy
- Ivan Mestrovic's Legacy at Syracuse University from Syracuse University Archives
- Ivan Meštrović Collection at Syracuse University Archives, includes primary source materials
- Gallery of Flickr images
- Profile by The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture
- Gallery to be dedicated to Ivan Mestrovic
- Mestrovic, sculptor of the Nikola Tesla bust