NEW OBSERVATIONS ON IVAN MEŠTROVIĆ*
DEAN A. PORTER
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Journal of Croatian Studies, XXIV,
1983, – Annual Review of the Croatian Academy of America, Inc. New York, N.Y.,
Electronic edition by Studia Croatica, by permission. All rights
reserved by the Croatian Academy of America.
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To better perceive and comprehend the nature and significance of Meštrović's Notre Dame work, it is necessary to have an understanding of the man and his art from his previous years. A brief chronological review of certain aspects that pertain to his earlier career and mention of a few of the major monuments he produced during that time will provide a background from which to begin. Critical issues and questions, however, will be raised in the process, which, I believe, will suggest that a new approach be taken to Meštrović, one that will lead to a more realistic assessment of his work and of his position in modern art.
The artist's talents were
recognized early in his life and his art training started while he was still a
child in Croatia. He moved to Vienna in 1900 at the age of 17 and soon after
was accepted by the Academy of Art where he first studied under Edmund Hellmer
and Hans Bitterlich and later under the architect Otto Wagner. He was attracted
immediately to the ideologies of the Secessionist movement that was developing
in Vienna at the time. His thirst for experiences other than those fostered by
the Academy drew the young Croatian to work among its artists.
By the time he was twenty,
Meštrović appears to have thoroughly integrated himself within the
movement. He exhibited with its artists in their annual shows of 1902, 1905,
1907, 1908, 1909, and 1910.[1]
Egon Schiele mentions him along with other Secessionists when he wrote to the
critic Arthur Roessler in 1910 pleading: "Why can't there be a large
international exhibition in the Künstlerhaus? — I have said this to Klimt — for
example, each artist has his own large room or his own apartment — Rodin, Van
Gogh, Gauguin, Minne, Klimt, Toorop, Stuck, Liebermann, Slevogt, Corinth,
Meštrović, etc. Only painting and sculpture. What a sensation for Vienna!
— a catastrophe!"[2]
Meštrović appears to have maintained some contact with the Secessionists
for years, at least through 1941 when he received a birthday congratulatory
message from them.
Meštrović's artistic
personality was a most complex one and reflected a number of influences. Two of
them, the strong, rich traditions of his Croatian heritage, so filled the
literature of his people and the chantings of the Guslar, and the Word,
as expressed in the Bible, profoundly affected his art throughout his career.
His admiration for Auguste Rodin whom he met in 1904, is well known, perhaps to
a greater extent than is known of Rodin's appreciation of Meštrović.
Rodin, who considered the artist the "greatest phenomenon amongst the
sculptors of the world", posed for his portrait while visiting
Meštrović's studio in Rome at the beginning of World War I in 1914. In
later years, Rodin served primarily as a guiding inspiration for the artist and
less as an artistic influence. And, finally, Meštrović's association with
the Secessionists must have been a major factor in his development. The
architect Otto Wagner, and the painter Gustav Klimt, a founder and first
president of the Secessionist movement, seem to have been especially
influential, while the influences of Egon Schiele, who joined the movement a
few years after Meštrović did, and other members of the group, were felt
to a lesser degree.
While historians and critics
discuss Meštrović's involvement with Secession, no one, to my knowledge,
has determined its extent and whether or not there were any direct influences
with specific examples, and if so, from whom?[3]
He enjoyed early success with both
critics and the public. By 1910, and at the age of twenty-seven, he was an
accomplished and recognized sculptor. His Well of Life of 1905 was exhibited in
plaster form in 1905 in the Secession Building and cast in bronze in 1910.
It was later placed in front of the National Theatre in Zagreb. The Source of Life, dating from 1906, was placed in the City Park in Drniš in 1958. His international reputation was established during these early years through exhibition of his projected Kosovo Temple monument sculptures, a project that unfortunately, may never be realized.[4]
The Well of Life (fig. 1)
is characteristic of his early work. Discussions, more often than not, have
spoken of the influences of Rodin and Impressionism, at least in terms of the
sculpture's stylistic qualities. Many of Meštrović's early sculptures bear
the impact, to varying degrees, of Rodin's style. The figures in the Well of
Life, all thirsting for the life giving waters, are marvelously interwoven,
their forms orchestrated around the small well, their surfaces a delight in
their tactile quality. Meštrović certainly had the work of Rodin in mind
when creating his sculptural group.[5]
However, the composition itself suggests that he was not only familar with, but
was influenced by Hans Canon's ceiling painting called The Circle of Life,
painted in circa 1884-85, that is now in the Naturhistorishes Museum in Vienna.[6]
Although Meštrović did not borrow figures from Canon, the circular
arrangement of figures of various ages are similary placed like the
interlocking links of a chain.
A relationship of Meštrović's
sculpture to painting is also evident with the Source of Life (1906).
Two pairs of nude figures flanking a row of young children with hands holding a
large breast, are reminiscent of Josef Engeihart's Fireplace of 1899,
now in the Osterreischisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst.[7]
The subject of Engelhart's Fireplace is that of the fall of Adam and Eve. Eve
is shown reaching across to Adam, her hind extended above the fireplace opening
and under the sinister looking serpent which twines in the tree of knowledge.
Although the themes are different, there is a strong sculptural affinity
between Meštrović and Engelhart's groupings.
It is also necessary to closely
examine Meštrović's relationship to another painter of Vienna Secession,
Gustav Klimt. The energetic line and compositional devices that Meštrović
used in his early drawings so closely resemble Klimt's drawing technique as to
suggest a closer relationship between the two artists than has been believed to
date. A sculpture of an old woman that Meštrović exhibited in the
International Exhibition at Rome in 1911 [8]
and a drawing that Klimt executed (variously dated ca. 1905/1909) of an old
woman[9]
are so much alike in appearance as to suggest that the two artists may have
been working together and sharing the same model.
The influence of Otto Wagner, one
of Meštrović's teachers, has also been stressed. One only has to compare
Wagner's architectural monuments, specifically the First Villa Wagner, in
Hutteldorf, near Vienna,[10]
of 1886-8 with Meštrović's summer home in Split of 1930, or Wagner's
Church of St. Leopold in Steinhof of 1903 to 1907 [11]
with Meštrović's Račić Family Memorial Chapel in Cavtat of 1919
to 1921 to recognize similar elements of design. The general configuration of
Meštrović's architecture, to be discussed later, is freely adapted from
Wagner's architectural ideas.
Between 1904 and 1911, the artist
devoted himself to a series of sculptures, drawings, and models for the Kosovo
Temple project mentioned above. It is unfortunate that the project as a whole
was never completed for it would have come down as one of the significant
achievements of Vienna Secession. Meštrović had envisioned the project as involving
architect, sculptor, painter, and decorative artist and was frustrated with its
incompletion. He would experience similar frustrations repeatedly throughout
his career.
The sculptures that were
completed, however, of Serbian and Croatian heroes, mourning women and
children, a great sphinx, and two colonnades of caryatids, provided important
material for several significant exhibitions in Vienna, Munich, Dresden,
Venice, Paris, Zagreb, Rome and London, which were generally well received by
critics and the public. Today these marvelous sculptures lie scattered in dimly
illuminated galleries, private collections and, occasionally, in dark valuts.
The Victor in Kalemegdan Park, Belgrade, completed in 1913 but not
installed until 1930, is another instance when Meštrović must have felt
frustrated. The sculpture which commemorates the Serbian victory of 1912 over
the Turks at the battle of Kumanovo is important for several reasons. Like so
many of Meštrović's original plans, the figure, brandishing a sword and
holding an eagle, was intended to be one of a very complex grouping. Like so many
of his projects, The Victor could not have been completed according to
Meštrović's more ambitious plans.'
Therefore, when attempts are made
to evaluate Meštrović's sculptural programs as they were originally
planned, reference to the artist's working drawings are necessary. To date, no
drawings for The Victor monument have surfaced and judgment must be
based on the solitary spartan figure. The figure by itself however, illustrates
Meštrović's continuing obsession with the stylistic ideologies of Vienna
Secession.
In 1915 Mestrović became a
political refugee. World Wars and his political aspirations frequently caused
him to abandon his well appointed studios, an extraordinary task when you
consider the equipment needed when an artist works in wood, stone and bronze.
After trips to Rome and Paris, he settled in London where he had the most
important display of his sculpture. His one-man show in London's stately
Victoria and Albert Museum is considered to have been the first one-man show by
a living artist in this prestigious museum. The exhibition consisted mostly of
Meštrović sculptures for the Kosovo project and it was met with mixed
response from the critics. Ernest H. R. Collings wrote: "However, from its
varied appeal to many tastes and in consequence of the differences of opinion
which the work excited, a volume of comment arose". Apparently those of
the academic mind found Meštrović too advanced while young revolutionaries
found his work not advanced enough.[12]
His trip to England brought
Meštrović into contact with the daughter of Ivo Račić, Maria.
Meštrović and Maria became close friends. When three members of the family
contracted the epidemic influenza in 1919, Maria, on her deathbed, asked her
mother to have Meštrovic: " ... build a tomb and console me with the
thought that death is but a shadow." [13]
The Račić Family
Memorial Chapel (1919-1921) represents Meštrović at his best as an artist.
If the artistic style of Vienna Secession can be described as an art directed
to the essential genuine and functional values of many, rather than those of a
few, and as a synthesis of architecture, sculpture, painting and decorative
elements, then few twentieth century architectures exemplify the style as well.
The Račić Family
Memorial has escaped the scrutiny of scholars working on Vienna Secession. The
reason for this may be more evident than has been previously believed. Vienna
Secession essentially comes to an end with the deaths of Wagner, Schiele and
Klimt in 1918. Meštrović, for all practical purposes, had begun to move
away from Vienna Secession as early as 1915 when he went to London. Yet, the
chapel retains strong architectural ties, particularly to the work of Otto
Wagner. The sculptural program, however, particularly the altars of St. Roche,
the Crucified Christ and the Virgin and Child, mark a stylistic change in
Meštrović's work.
The octagonally planned structure
is marvelous in its simplicity. The exterior of whitish-gray ashlar stone is
modestly decorated ... the cornice carved with ornamental palmettes and a ram's
head, and the bronze doors, depicting the saints of the southern Slays, are
flanked by tall, slender, graceful, angelic caryatids who stand at attention
with hands crossed on their chests, as if in peaceful repose.
The solemn dignity and restraint
of the exterior sculptural and architectural program is continued within. A
dome and lantern cap a central space that is flanked by lateral arms containing
three altars. On the sidewalls of the altars to St. Roche and the Crucified
Christ portraits of the Raćić family are carved in low relief. The
Virgin and Child are altared at the eastern end of the church where they
reflect the brilliant rays of su at dusk (fig. 3).
The prevailing feeling of the
space and sculptural program is religiously significant. It is peaceful, quiet
and tranquil. Meštrović's treatment of the Virgin and Child is an example
of Meštrović's early exploration of the relationship of the Mother and her
Son. In 1917, Meštrović created several Madonna and Child images in stone,
bronze and wood. A more rigid frontality and hieratic attitude, and his
attention to long gracefully flowing forms seen in the Asbaugh Madonna (fig. 6)
reflects his involvement with Vienna Secession. In the Račić Madonna
and Child, Meštrović is more concerned with portraying a warmer
relationship between the pair. The Christ Child's attitude is one of blessing,
with His hands outstretched as if to welcome the deceased. Finally, the
stylistic exaggerations evident in his earlier sculptures are replaced by more
naturalistic proportions and treatment of drapery.
In keeping with the prevailing mood of the memorial chapel, Meštrović demonstrated a dramatic change in the treatment of the Crunfied Christ. In 1917, he carved a Christ, now in the Holy Cross Chapel in Split (fig. 4) whose tortured body is elongated and painfully distorted. Flesh is stretched so taut that it functions like a diaphanous veil over the protruding bony substructure of Christ's body. Two years later, at Cavtat, the figure of Christ is carved with more classical proportions and is relaxed in eternal sleep (fig. 5). A comparison of the upper torso of the two sculptures reveals how fervently Meštrović worked to retain a consistent feeling throughhout the chapel and its decorative programs.
Meštrović's mastery at Cavtat
can be best described by his ability to express the basic human tendency for
emotion. The Victor is a political monument, that was meant to signify
and glorify a battle concluding five hundred years of Turkish domination. The
Račić Family Memorial is a religious monument and in Meštrović's
mind he had to develop a sacred space. He accomplished this through a series of
preliminary studies and working drawings ,(fig. 2). Of all of his monuments,
Cavtat was perhaps the most studied, the most completed as to its original
plans and the most successful.
In 1924, Meštrović made his
first trip to the United States where he exhibited his work in prestigious
one-man shows in Brooklyn, Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago. Important works were
purchased by all four museums. While in Chicago, he was commissioned by the B.
F. Ferguson Fund to do a public monument for that city of an American hero,
possibly of Washington or Lincoln. Noting that the two presidents had been
immortalized through sculpture many times, he suggested that Chicago honor the
American Indian and cowboy, and submitted a model of each for consideration.[14]
On April 15, 1926, Potter Palmer,
president of the fund, wrote to Meštrović: "The scale model of the Indian
mounted upon a horse is hereby accepted by the Board of Trustees of the
Ferguson Fund, and the trustees suggest that the figure of the cowboy in the
other model be replaced by a figure, preferably in the nude, of an Indian in
action, suitably balanced and designed in harmony with the Indian which you put
out in the acceptable model." [15]
On the following day,
Meštrović responded, agreeing to replace the cowboy with the figure of an
Indian. At the completion of the project, Meštrović was paid $150,000 [16]
(fig. 8 & 9).
The level of funding indicates the
respect and status Meštrović enjoyed as a sculptor by the art critics and
people of Chicago. It is possible that a portion of these funds was directed
toward future projects such as Gregory of Nin, located today outside the Golden
Gate of Diocletian's Palace in Split, a gift by Meštrović to the city.[17]
It is interesting to note at this
point that the Indians are characterized by rather severe distortion and
stylization of the anatomical features, not too unlike his treatment of The
Victor for Kalemegdan Park. They show a reversion to his Vienna Secession
style during the same period he was beginning to create a handsome series of
female nudes which have been related to the works of Maillol, Bourdelle and
Michelangelo.
It is impossible to discuss all of
Meštrović's major monuments in this article nor is it necessary. The 1930s
saw the completion of the Monument of Gratitude to France (1930) in
Belgrade, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier located in Avala near Belgrade
(1935-38), the memorial Church of Our Lady in Biskupija (1936-38), and
the Mausoleum of the Meštrović Family in Otavice (1934).
Two monuments in Split, the Meštrović
Family Home (1930-36), now the Meštrović Gallery, and the Meštrović
Chapel of the Holy Cross (1937-39), are fine examples of the artist's
concern for proper settings for his sculptures and, like the Račić
Family Chapel, display his ability to combine his multiple talents within a
single project.
The Meštrović Home is an
example of architecture in the Secessionist style and the quintessence of the
classical spirit. Its location is superb. Situated high on a hill, accessible
only through a stone gate and up many, many steps, it is surrounded by
magnificent gardens and overlooks the beautiful Adriatic. Clearly,
Meštrović built this home not only for the needs of his family but also
for the execution and display of his sculpture.
Between 1937 and 1939,
Meštrović converted a medieval structure, located a few hundred yards from
his summer home, into a family chapel of the Holy Cross. Although having little
value as an architectural monument, the structure provides an ideal setting for
thirty wood reliefs that depict the life and passion of Christ. The carvings
were done between 1917 and 1954, and like his home, were made a gift to the
Croatian people.
The reliefs, uneven in their
quality, offer the Meštrović scholar an unusual opportunity of observing
the artist's stylistic evolution over a thirty-seven year period of time.
Clearly, Meštrović was a master of carving in shallow relief and it is in
this area of sculpture where he surpasses his contemporaries. Each panel
presents a different religious message—clearly and strongly expressed.
As Dorothy Adlow stated in 1951:
"His richness lies in the fact that his works are charged with emotional
content."[18] The only
sculpture in the round in the chapel, The Crucifixion (fig. 4), mounted on the
eastern wall, is an especially powerful image. In its impact on the viewer it
may be compared to Mathias Grünewald's altarpiece in Isenheim.
Meštrović left his native
country permanently at the outbreak of World War II and lived in Italy and
Switzerland. He arrived in America in 1947 and taught first at Syracuse
University before moving to the University of Notre Dame in 1955 where he
remained until his death in 1962.
I regret I did not personally know
the "Maestro" as he was fondly known. He died four years before I
arrived at Notre Dame in 1966. The studio which had been especially constructed
for Meštrović had already passed through the hands of two other sculptors.
The studio, a long and narrow, partitioned space, had the crane which had moved
his ambitious projects, still in place gathering dust. The attic of
O'Shaughnessy Hall, the Arts and Letters College, still contained huge crated
sculptures which had been brought from Syracuse.
The "Maestro's" magnetic
presence continued to be felt long after his death. When Meštrović arrived
in 1955, he was 72 years old and not in particularly good health. Yet in the
short span of seven years, Meštrović had become a legend. Many knew him
during these years—philosopher, linguist, priest and laborer—and all freely
shared their memories as they told of their personal experiences. One professor
emeritus recently wrote: "My guess is that if one Notre Dame professor
from the 20th century is remembered a thousand years from now, it will be Ivan
Meštrović." [19]
Meštrović had been searching
for an appropriate place to spend his last years when he told Notre Dame's
president, Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C.: "I am an American
citizen and intend to stay in America, but I would like to give my remaining
years doing religious art in a place that will appreciate it." [20]
Meštrović brought the arts
into focus during his years at Notre Dame. He introduced art of a quality that
had not been seen on the campus in the 113 years of the university's existence.
He opened many of his crates from Syracuse and placed sculptures in chapels,
residence halls, and classroom buildings. The Virgin and Child (fig. 7), created
in 1947, perhaps the most beautiful of these sculptures from his Syracuse
period, was placed at the entrance of the College of Arts and Letters, where it
stood for twenty-five years before being moved to the Ivan Meštrović
Gallery in 1980.
Meštrović realized one of his
greatest dreams, a permanent place for his Rome Pietŕ (fig. 10 & 11)
when it was placed in Sacred Heart Church at Notre Dame. The Pietŕ,
carved during his years of exile between 1942 and 1946, had been on display and
in storage at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since his one-man show there in
1947. In order to accommodate the huge eight ton Carrara marble sculpture, the
walls of a side chapel in the church had to be removed and the floor
reinforced. Meštrović had agreed to lend the Pietŕ to the
university for an indefinite period and after its installation and the walls
replaced, he turned to one of his colleagues, Professor Robert Leader, and in
his typical dry humor stated: "Now that is what I call a temporary loan".[21]
In his new studio he enjoyed a
prolific and successful career. Churches, nursing homes, the Mayo Clinic, and
other public buildings soon had Meštrović sculptures which would become
the subject of visitor attention. Essentially, his last work was religious and
inspired principally by work done in Croatia. Perhaps the most successful and
well known piece that he did at Notre Dame is the bronze Christ and the
Samaritan Woman at Jacob's Well (fig. 12), completed in 1957. He had first
explored the subject in 1927 for the wood relief in the chapel at Split. The
compositions for the two works are essentially the same even though they were
done thirty years apart.
Only minor changes are evident in
the Notre Dame work, such as in the position of the Samaritan woman's head and
in the more relaxed attitude of the figure of Christ. The stylistic changes are
more obvious. Drapery of the Split relief of 1927 is almost diaphanous in
appearance. Garments cling to the forms and are inscribed with graceful,
sinuous patterns. The 1957 figures are seen with heavy folds, gathered in a
casual manner over their limbs. More important, however, is Meštrović's
creation of a sense of communication that exists between the two figures. By
1957, Meštrović appears to have become more concerned with the spiritual
impact of his figures than with style. It is this strong feeling of
communication between Christ and the Samaritan that attracts and involves the
viewer.
Because it became increasingly difficult
in his later years for the "Maestro" to physically handle large
blocks of marble or walnut, he worked primarily with plaster while at Notre
Dame. Several of his works were not cast into bronze until after his death.
Among these were the 1956-58 Madonna and Child in the courtyard of Lewis Hall
and a superb 1947 plaster portrait of his wife Olga.
In 1960, he suffered a stroke
which partially affected his eyesight and in 1961, he suffered the cruelest of
blows when he learned of the death of his son Tvrtko. Quietly, he drew the
curtains to his home in South Bend and poured out his grief through his hands.
Ivan Meštrović' s great strength is best reflected by this series of
plaster sculptures done at that time: An Old Father in Despair at the Death
of His Son; A Father Taking 'Leave of His Son in Fierce Embrace; A Mother with
a Gentle Kiss Takes Leave of Her Dead Daughter and the Last Self Portrait,
are expressions of his anguish. Simple, direct and powerful, they are personal
statements, perhaps never intended for public viewing. Madame Meštrović
has stated: "No one will ever understand them".[22]
Meštrović's last public
monument was inspired by Petar Petrović Njegoš, the Montenegrin poet and
prince bishop, and given to the people of Montenegro (Crna Gora) in 1958. In a
sense, it represents the problems Meštrović faced throughout his career.
The project was initially discussed during the early 1920s and several working
drawings and a model were completed for it. Meštrović created a full-scale
plaster for the work and sent it to one of his former students in Split who
carved the over life-sized Petar Petrović Njegoš in greyish-green granite.
Njegoš location is impressive, and awesome. It rests at the end a simple,
narrow road that winds precariously up the steep cliffs. The monument
undoubtedly was inspired by Meštrović's architectural monuments, drawings,
and models from the early 1930s. After going through a "triumphal"
gate into an open atrium area, the visitor passes between large architectural
figures dressed in native costume and moves on into a square chamber that is
almost solemn in effect. The sculptured image of the prince bishop is seated on
a low seat with his legs crossed, one hand raised to his head, the other to his
heart, and his head bent forward, as if lost in thought. Behind Njegoš is a
great eagle with its wings spread, serving as a kind of guardian.
The sculpture is monumental in
concept. It is traditional in style like the rest of the work Meštrović
produced after World War II. During his last years, he worked independently,
preferring not to follow the more contemporary styles that were developing in
the 1940s and 1950s. The portrait of Njegoš is perhaps not as skillfully carved
as it might have been if Meštrović had laid chisel to the granite, but its
effect is as dramatic as the "Maestro" would have wished.
Meštrović was a people's
sculptor. He came from the people and spent his life working for them,
constantly searching for an image that would best express the human condition.
On January 16, 1962, he went to his studio for the last time. That evening he
died quietly of a heart attack in St. Joseph Hospital in South Bend. As he had
prophesised, he worked on his last day.
Ivan Meštrović became a
legend in his own time. His work is the principal work in four museums (Split,
Zagreb, Vrpolje, and Drniš) and the gallery at Notre Dame. His work has been
exhibited in some the world's most prestigious museums. He has been written
about in numerous monograph, catalogues, and articles, and has been honoured
with many degrees and awards.
It is difficult, therefore, to
understand the present lack of interest in Meštrović. His name is rarely
included in contemporary writings on twentieth century sculpture, even in the
most general surveys. He is similarly neglected by surveyors of the Vienna
Secession movement. The problem of Meštrović's position in twentieth
century art continues to be a problem. Perhaps, the time has finally come for
art historians to resolve it.
Author's note: I am
indebted to Mrs. Sarah Coffman, Ivan Meštrović archivist at Notre Dame,
for her assistance with this publication.
Illustrations:
Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12
Meštrović's Archives, University of Notre Dame.
Fig. 9 Meštrović family
collection. Fig. 10 Photo: Bruce Harlan. Fig.
11 Photo Vasari Rome.
* This paper, in part, deals with the contents of a lecture I gave at Columbia University on November 4, 1982 in which a broad overview of the artist's accomplishments was presented with an emphasis on the work he did from the time he arrived at the University of Notre Dame until the day he died, January 16, 1962.
[1] Duško Kečkemet. Ivan Meštrović 1883-1962. Centennial Exhibition, October 5, 1983 — February 6, 1984 Zagreb, Muzejski Prostor, 1983. The exhibition catalogue contains an up to date chronology of Meštrović s activities through 1982.
[2] Christian von Nebahay. Egon-Schiele 1890-1918 Leben briefe Gedichte, "Documents and Korrespondenz 1910" No. 144, p. 139, Salzburg and Vienna, Residenz Verlag, 1979.
[3] Duško Kečkemet in his two major publications on Meštrović (Ivan Meštrović, New York, McGraw Hill, 1964, and Ivan Meštrović 1883-1962, Centennial Exhibition, October 5, 1983 — February 6, 1984) offers the best understanding of Meštrović's involvement in Vienna Secession. Kečkemet introduces several important issues that undoubtedly affected the young Meštrović, as well as his relationship with several artists generally associated with Vienna Secession. Most interesting is the relationship which existed between Meštrović and the Austrian born sculptor Franz Metzner. Kečkement s work is an ideal point of departure for a more in-depth study of Meštrović in Vienna.
[4] Individual sculptures, architectural drawings in the Meštrović Gallery in Split, and the model still exist.
[5] There is no wish to minimize Rodin's impact on Meštrović or others working in sculpture during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Meštrović, like his colleagues, absorbed influences from various sources, incorporating them into his own artistic language.
[6] Reproduced, Peter Vergo, Art in Vienna 1898.1918, London, Phaidon Press, 1975, p. 54, ill. 47.
[7] Reproduced, Nicolas Powell, The Sacred Spring The Arts in Vienna 1898-1918, Geneva, Cosmopress, 1974, p. 178.
[8] Reproduced L'Arte Mondiale a Roma nel 1911. Bergamo, Instituto Italiano d'arti Grafiche-Editore, 1913. The location of the sculpture is unknown.
[9] Reproduced, Alfred Werner, Gustav Klimt 100 Drawings, New York, Dover Publications, Inc., 1972, fig. 31.
[10] Reproduced, Peter Vergo, op. cit., p. 92, ill. 72.
[11] Reproduced, ibid, p. 107, ill. 88.
[12] Ivan Meštrović A Monograph, essay by
Ernest H. R. Collings, Meštrović in England, London, Williams and Norgate,
1919, p. 49.
[13] Laurence Schmeckebier, Ivan Meštrović
Sculptor and Patriot, Syracuse University Press, 1959, p. 30.
[14] Meštrović Archives, University of Notre Dame.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] This suggestion is made through speculation. To date, Meštrović's means of financing his projects have not been studied, nor have his papers containing such information been made available.
[18] Schmeckebier, op. cit., p. 43.
[19] Edward Fischer, "While the Light was Good," Notre Dame Magazine, December 1982, vol. 11, no. 5, p. 35.
[20] Interview with Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., 1974.
[21] Interview with Professor Robert Leader, 1974.
[22] Interview with Mrs. Ivan Meštrović, 1974.