Atelier-Ivan Mestrovic (Croatia)

Atelier-Ivan Mestrovic, {CATEGORY}

The artist's studio and 17th-century house are the setting for a vast array of his sculptures and models. Examples of Croatia's most famous sculptor's renderings of famous people, religious icons, and just plain folks are exhibited inside and outside in the garden. This is a fascinating museum where you can imagine how the artist lived and worked during his years here (1924-42). Not only are finished works on display, but also sketches, models, and photographs, most notably a small study of the Grgur Ninski sculptures in Split and Nin in Dalmatia. Many other Mestrovic sculptures are installed in public areas around Zagreb and other parts of Croatia, but currently there is no all-inclusive map that locates them. In his later life, Mestrovic lived in the United States and worked as a professor of sculpture in South Bend, Indiana, at the University of Notre Dame, which also owns some of his works from that period. A wide array of Mestrovic's books, catalogs, and CDs are available in the gallery's small bookstore. Ivan Mestrovic (1883-1962) - Ivan Mestrovic is Croatia's most famous sculptor, and he is regarded as the greatest sculptor of religious art since the Renaissance. Mestrovic was born in Vrpolje (Slavonia) August 15, 1883 to a peasant family but spent most of his childhood in Otavice, a tiny, impoverished village in the rocky, mountainous interior of Dalmatia west of Sibenik. When he was 16, Mestrovic was apprenticed to a stonecutter in Split where he developed his skill by reproducing the city's Greek and Roman works of art. After just 9 months in Split, a wealthy Viennese patron sponsored him for a place at the Academy of Fine Arts in the Austrian capital. It was there that Mestrovic's genius began to shine. In Vienna, Mestrovic met the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin, who encouraged him to broaden his artistic vision through travel and who became a strong influence on the young artist. Mestrovic took Rodin's advice and spent time working in Paris, Belgrade, and eventually Rome, where he won a first prize for sculpture at the World Exhibition of 1911. In the early 1920s, Mestrovic settled in Zagreb, where he transformed a 17th-century house (Mestrovic Atelier) into his home and studio. In 1942 he was imprisoned by the Ustashe for his political involvements and released thanks to intervention by Pope Pius XII. Mestrovic then moved to Rome, and the next year he left for Switzerland. After World War II, he emigrated to New York where he became a professor of sculpture at Syracuse University. In 1955 he moved to a similar position at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where he lived until his death in 1962. Throughout his career, Mestrovic was a prolific artist. His works are on display in museums, public places (including Chicago's Grant Park), and at Notre Dame.