Ivan Mestrovic (Croatian 1883-1962)2

1. Ivan Mestrovic 2 (Croatian, 1883 – 1962) 

2. Ivan Mestrovic The famed sculptor was born in 1883 and died in 1962. Lauded by Rodin as 'the greatest phenomenon amongst the sculptors', Ivan Meštrovic began his career exhibiting with the Vienna Secession at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries. The Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic was one of the most important sculptors of his generation. His fame led to important exhibitions across Europe, and in 1915 he made history as the first living artist to have a solo exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and also he was the first living person to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (1948) He left Croatia in 1943 and lived briefly in Switzerland before emigrating to New York State to take up the chair of sculpture created for him at Syracuse University. 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  Vlaho Bukovac (1855–1922) Portrait of sculptor Ivan Meštrović

3. At the very top of the Avala mountain, which lies 15 km south from Belgrade, you will find Monument to the Unknown Hero. It is one of the most notable sights of Avala.

6. Monument, dedicated to victims of the WWI, was built on a place where used to stand fortress Žrnovo

7. Project for this monument was done by famous sculptor Ivan Meštrović. This monumental Mausoleum on the top of Avala Mountain contains on both entrances caryatids - gigantic stone figures of women dressed in folklore costumes from all Yugoslav regions

8. King Aleksandar I of Yugoslavia gave an order to destroy ruins of this former Roman settlement and build the monument in 1934

11. In 1934 the ruins of the Žrnov Medieval town were demolished with dynamite that is still condemned by historians

14. The big model of the equestrian statue of King Ferdinand, kept in Gliptoteka, HAZU (Zagreb, Croatia) The huge bronze original monument to Ferdinand with the four Victories, erected in Bucharest, was destroyed by the Communists. Ivan Mestrovic was a friend of HM Carol II and this Romanian king commissioned to him the monument

15. The huge bronze original monument to HM Carol I, erected in Bucharest, was melted by the Communists for a Lenin statue The big model of the equestrian statue of King Carol I, kept in Gliptoteka, HAZU (Zagreb, Croatia). Copyright Mestrovic family. Property of the Mestrovic's heirs

16. Monument to HM Ferdinand of Romania, by Ivan Mestrovic ( destroyed by the Communists in 1948). The original (8 metres high) finished plaster before casting the bronze statue. 1937 The original head (1/1) King Carol I, kept in Gliptoteka, HAZU (Zagreb)

17. King Carol I of Romania Study for the equestrian monument of King Ferdinand of Romania

18. The Bowman and The Spearman, also known as Indians, are two bronze equestrian sculptures standing as gatekeepers in Congress Plaza, at the intersection of Congress Parkway and Michigan Avenue in Grant Park, Chicago, United States. The sculptures were made in Zagreb by Ivan Meštrović and installed at the entrance of the parkway in 1928. The Bowman and the Spearman guard the entrance to Chicago's principle downtown park and were erected to commemorate the Native Americans  

19. The Bowman

21. The omitting of the weapons was intentional, as the artist preferred that they be “left to the imagination while attention is focused upon the bold lines of the musculature of both man and beast, as well as the linear patterns of the horses’ manes and tails and the figures’  headdresses.” 

23. The Bowman

25.  The Spearman, 1928

26.  The Spearman, 1928

27.  The Spearman, 1928

28. Portrait of HM Carol I in The National Museum of Art, Bucharest Vladimir Becic Mirogoj, Zagreb

29. Mother breastfeeding (1930)  Since 1940 it has been located in front of the School of Public Health Andrija Štampar in Zagreb

30. Mother breastfeeding Rodiliste, Split (Maternity) Mother and child

31. Female Head with Braids, inter-war period Eagle

32. Widow with Child (Vidovdan cycle), 1909 National Museum Belgrade

33. Mestrovic's Angel of Death (1911) in Kalemegdan, Belgrade

34. Caryatides by Ivan Mestrovic at Belgrade National Museum fragment of the Vidovdan Temple, which was never realized

35. The Vidovdan temple, a place of national worship dedicated to the “martyrs” of the Kosovo battle and the cult of sacrifice on the altar of homeland created around them, several times larger than the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Avala, never came to be and the sculptures created for it became property of the National Museum

36. The Vidovdan temple The statue of Milos Obilic

37. The statue of Milos Obilic Belgrade National Museum

38. “Vidovdan Temple” model 

39. Sphinx, 1957

40. Sphinx in the park of Bukovicka Banja

41. Portraits Private collections Sphinx

42. “History of the Croats” The Royal Palace Belgrade a version of the work the artist made in 1932 for the Museum of Croatian History in Zagreb

43. Michelangelo, New York, 1926 Mestrovic atelier, Zagreb

44. The Artist at Work Auguste Rodin Rome, 1914  Atelier Meštrović, Zagreb

45. Mother teaching her child to pray, New York, 1925

46. Autoportrait Mestrovic self-portrait 1941

47. Katunaric family 1906

48. Rememberance 1908

49. Man and Freedom, 1953 Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota