Post by croatchessmaster on Dec 31, 2011 21:36:05 GMT -5
A 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.
The esoteric works being produced by the modernists began to run contrary to his entire philosophical orientation, one which had deep roots in the history and culture of his native Croatia. Although Meštroviæ adopted some of the stylistic tools employed in the age, he remained stubbornly classical in his outlook. His goal was to herald in a new era in sculpture, but one anchored firmly in the traditions of the past.
A bust of Nikola Tesla in 1939. He met Tesla in New York City in 1924 and they became good friends and admirers of each other. In the Museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade, there are letters of correspondence between Tesla and Mestrovic, which depicted their friendship and admiration for one another.
Mausoleum of the greatest poet of South Slavs, Peter Petrovic-Njegos in the Montenegrin Mountain of Lovcen, near the capital of Montenegro, Cetinje
Tesla Sculpture by the famous sculptor Ivan Mestrovic at Rudjer Boskovic Institute in Zagreb, Croatia
Serbian hero Marko Kraljevic
Historical Kosovo
In 1905-1906 Ivan Meštroviæ in Vienna made his first sketches for the Kosovo cycle consisting of hundreds of sculptures, telamones, caryatids, sphinxes, of the heroes and widows that were intended for representation at the Vidovdan Temple, which was to be the imposing crown of the cycle. He completed most of these sculptures in Paris and for the first time showed them at the 1910 Vienna Secession Exhibition.
Ivan Meštroviæ. Caryatids. A fragment design from Vidovdan temple-to-be.
A wooden scale model of the Temple was shown in Rome in 1911 on an exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of unification of Italy. The actual Temple was to have been 250 meters long with a 10- meter tall bell-tower. Inspired by Kosovo legends, Meštroviæ’s idea was to place the sculptures of lions at the temple entrance along the staircase and the sculptures of falcons on the portal. Two rows of caryatids placed along the corridor represented the mothers, sisters, wives and fiancées of the Kosovo heroes such as Miloš Obiliæ, who with his mighty swing, appears as capable of slashing through anything standing in his way, and Srdja Zlopogledja, whose head symbolizes suffering and desire for revenge.
A mock-up of Vidovdan temple.
The Battle of Kosovo was to have been illustrated by over 100 sculptures and paintings at the structure’s center. Part abstract, the white figures on a tall tower were to symbolize the souls of Kosovo heroes. For this exhibition Meštroviæ had prepared numerous sketches for the stone reliefs and the fresco friezes depicting various scenes from the Battle of Kosovo as well as a large number of small and big figures of heroes. In Rome, he exhibited imposing sculptures intended for the Temple, including those of Marko Kraljeviæ (who did not participate in Kosovo Battle but was a Turkish ally then), Srdja Zlopogledja, Miloš Obiliæ as well as of the mothers and widows of the Kosovo heroes …
Row of caryatids.