http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sandamichaela-2633615-ivan-mestrovic6/

Ivan Mestrovic was born in Vrpolje in 1883. After apprenticeship in the stonemason’s workshop of Harold Bilinic in Split, in 1901 he entered the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts where he stayed until 1906. Exhibiting with the artists from the Viennese Secession group he acquired affirmation already during his studies. Since 1908 he worked in Paris in his studio, where he produced a considerable part of the grandly conceived architectural and sculptural piece, Vidovdan Temple. These works were repeatedly exhibited and got the highest award at the World Exhibition in Rome in 1911, where they won the first prize for sculpture. Ivan Mestrovic stayed for four years in Rome studying sculpture of antiquity. He was totally infatuated with Michelangelo, whom he considered the greatest sculptor of all time. During World War I he exhibited in England in 1915, at the Victoria and Albert Museum.Mestrovic's dream of a Yugoslavia united and strengthened against outside forces, was shattered in 1941 when Germany invaded. In the following years the artist resisted both Fascism and Communism and is remembered as a hero of Croatian nationalism. After the Second World War, Ivan Mestrovic left for the United States. Since 1946 he worked as a professor at Syracuse University and later became a professor at the University of Notre Dame. He died in South Bend, Indiana, in 1962.He never again lived in Croatia as he refused to live under Communism. However, in accordance with his wishes, he was buried in the The Most Holy Redeemer church he had built in Otavice. Moreover, he bequeathed his homes and studios in Zagreb and Split as well the chapel in Otavice to the Croatian people, together with the majority of his sculpture. The bequest now forms the Ivan Mestrovic Museums in Croatia

Meštrović Gallery is located in the neighborhood of Meje in the western part of Split. The artist himself participated in the creation of this monumental piece of architecture.

The villa served as home of the Meštrović family

In 1952, Ivan Meštrović

donated the property, along

with three others, and 132 of his art

works to the Republic of Croatia, making

possible the founding of the Ivan Meštrović

Gallery

Reliefs-Girl playing the harp-Girl playing music

The gallery preserves and presents to the public the most significant works of Meštrović, and is in itself an art monument

The building and its grounds overlooking the Adriatic Sea were designed to fulfill three purposes: as a family home, working studio and exhibit space

The Meštrović family stayed in the villa from the summer of 1932 until 1941, when Meštrović left for

Zagreb

The bronze sculpture Daleki Akordi or Distant Chords adorns the lawns of the

Mestrovic Gallery in Split

Daleki Akordi or Distant Chords is a Bronze cast ( 237×121×69 cm) of the statue of Ivan Meštrović made in 1918, in Rome.This sculpture adorns the lawns of the Mestrovic Palace or Gallery in Split

In 2012 as part of the festival «Croatie, la voici», the Musée Rodin presented a group of works by Ivan Meštrović (1883-1962), one of the most important 20th-century Croatian sculptors, and a great admirer of Auguste Rodin

Daleki Akordi or Distant Chords (1918 Rome) at Musée Rodin Paris

Outdoor sculpture park

Supplicant Persephone, 1945 bronze

Persephone, according to Greek legend, was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She was abducted by Hades, the god of the Underworld, and forced to become his wife. Demeter, goddess of agriculture, demanded that her daughter be returned but Zeus made a bargain with Hades allowing him to keep Persephone during the autumn and winter

Supplicant Persephone, 1945 bronze

The myth underscores the ancient interpretation of the seasons; nature’s fruits disappear in autumn and winter but are regained in spring and summer when Persephone is returned to world of the living.Mestrovic portrays Persephone pleading for release from the underworld

Cyclops (1928)

Cyclops (1928)

Reclining Nude

Reclining Nude

Timor Dei

Reclining Nude

Female nude

Widow

Woman by the sea 1926

Boy with horse ( a portrait of Ivan's youngest son Mate)1936

Boy with horse1936 Vlaho Bukovac (1855–1922)portrait of sculptor Ivan Meštrović

The Last Supper by Ivan Mestrovic (1945, Geneve)

My Mother

The furniture set is made according to Ivan Meštrović's sketches and is a part of the new permanent display in the former dining room

In Despair, 1927

Olga Mestrovic - 1925Reverie (Sanjarenje), 1927

Musician (playing gajde)

Woman playing lute

Hope, 1925

Girl Dancer

Marija Banac Racic

Portrait of the artist's wife, Ruza Klein

Lamentation, 1931

Pieta Moses

Wood carvings

Pieta 1919

Sketch for decoration of the dome of the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer Confucius, around 1938

 Widow (Velika udovica), 1907

  Dancer Rome, 1911

Nude Dancer 1912, Rome

 The Violinist 

Dubrovnik, 1922

Madonna and

Children, 1922

Head of Boy, Ivan Mestrovic bronze sculpture, 1915

Adam  (296,5  walnut wood) and Eve 324,5cm

Psiha (Psyche 1927, Zagreb) marble statue in the atrium of the Mestrovic Palace Split

Psyche, 1927

Study for Psyche, Psyche and Meditation

Girl with a Lute 1927Tate Collections

Mestrovic made a number of sculptures of women playing musical instruments during the 1920s and 1930s. He said of them, 'They are an expression of my feelings and longing for harmony between us and the whole world’

Collection of the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb (Donation Ruza Klein Mestrovic)

Woo

den

nude

Car

riers

or A

tlant

es (C

onso

les)

192

9

Portrait bust of J.W. von Goethe, around 1943

Very similar to Romanian story related to the Curtea de Arges monastery (the legend of its construction, the Master Manole), different authors have treated the Rozafa legend in various ways. The serbian version is the subject of Marguerite Yourcenar's tale Le Lait de la Mort (The Milk of Death) and Albanian version is retold in Ismail Kadare’s novel The bridge with three ArchesRozafa legend about Skadar Relief, 1906, Vienna

AnnunciationMother and child

Writing manAuto portraitMuseum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb

Mary Immaculate Accompanied by Angels, 1959

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception,Washington D.C.

Text and pictures: Internet Copyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasandahttp://www.authorstream.com/sandamichaela/

Sound: Rudolf Matz - Flute Concerto - II. Minuetto

For more about the artist please click on images