“My art is expressed in hard wood and stone, but that which is in art is not in wood or stone, it is outside time and space. Art is a song and a prayer at the same time.” – Ivan Meštrović
Amidst the tumult and devastation wreaked by the world wars, Ivan Meštrović used his art as a beacon of hope. A 20th century Croatian sculptor with hundreds of art pieces and monuments to his name, he captured the suffering of the human experience to point to the world’s desperate need for Christ, the ultimate bringer of hope and peace. Recognized by Rodin, imprisoned after insulting Hitler, and torn between his roots and his desire for artistic freedom, he eventually made his home in the United States.
Today, we invite you to learn about his life, faith, and where you can find his art in the Basilica in this latest installment of our Artist Spotlight series.
Ivan Meštrović’s Early Life
Stonework was part of Ivan Meštrović’s life from his earliest days. Born in 1883 in present-day Croatia, he was the son of a stonecutter, and became an apprentice to a stonemason at 13. At age 16, he went to the Vienna Academy, where he worked to perfect his craft for the next three years. Shortly after he had finished his training, he began to gain notoriety and had exhibits in Vienna. By 1908, his talent was so extraordinary that Rodin noticed him in Paris, and in 1915, he had a solo exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Ivan Meštrović Faces Political Opposition
However, just as Ivan was on the cusp of a flourishing art career, his dreams were sundered by political conflict. By the time World War I began, his political activism made him a target, and ultimately forced him to flee to Yugoslavia.
After World War I, he returned to Croatia and became the Rector of the Academy of Art. During his tenure there, he took a personal interest in his students’ success, donating much of his wages to scholarships. Ivan’s political troubles were not over, though. When he denied an invitation from Hitler to hold an exhibit in Berlin, he was imprisoned for five months. It was only after the Vatican made an appeal for his freedom that he was released and relocated to Rome and then Switzerland.
Meštrović Moves to the United Sates
Ivan fell gravely ill for a time while in Switzerland, but after his recovery, he chose to pursue a career in the academy. In 1947, he moved to the United States, taking a position as a professor at Syracuse University. During his time there, he became the only living artist to be featured in a solo exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and in 1954, President Eisenhower granted him citizenship.
Later, Ivan became a Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where he taught until the end of his life. Before his death in 1962, Ivan visited his homeland of Yugoslavia one last time, donating 59 of his works to churches and communities there. Today, over 60 years later, you can find many of his sculptures across the world, including on campus at Notre Dame.
Meštrović’s Art and Legacy
Meštrović stands apart not only for his prolific oeuvre, but for the distinct character of his work: a realism that, through capturing the authentic suffering of the human experience, pointed the viewer to Christ as the only source of true hope. The early days of his career were marked by a furious pace – within a decade, he’d completed 175 works – and as he grew older, his interests expanded. He even dabbled in architecture, designing his house in Split, Croatia, which serves as a museum today.
Meštrović favored mediums that lent themselves to his raw, bold style: marble or wood carvings, or casts in plaster or bronze. Britannica describes his figures as “often elongated, with angular, simplified features.” Throughout his work are traces of his key influences: his pride in his Croatian heritage and his vibrant Catholic faith, which often inspired him to include Biblical themes.
In describing his artistic philosophy, he once said:
“My later work grows naturally out of my earlier…. They attempted to be an expression of the history of the soul of our nation, the soul which in its essence is general and human…. Immediately after the Balkan War, and even more after the First World War I came to believe that the ideals of one nation are too small…. It was following the thread of these ideas and emotions that brought me to the Bible. A feeling of the general suffering of man then took a stronger place than for the suffering of a single nation. The need to overcome one particular evil, our evil, widened into need to overcome evil in general wherever it was and whosoever it was…. The best way to fight against evil is to pray to God; and to struggle for the beautiful means to sing his praises.”
Meštrović’s Work at the Basilica
At the Basilica, you can find Meštrović’s stonework in places of prominence. His sculpture Mary Immaculate with Angels graces the balcony above the center door of the South Façade, accompanied by the text: “Thou art the Glory of Jerusalem, the Joy of Israel, the Honour of our people.”
In the North Façade, you can also see his 16-ft. relief sculpture Mary the Immaculate Queen of the Universe, portraying Mary standing on earth surrounded by stars, supported by the archangels Gabriel and Michael.
Curious about more artists of the Basilica? Read about Ed Dwight
Judging from Ed Dwight’s smashing success as a sculptor, you’d never guess that art wasn’t his first profession. With 129 monuments and 18,000 gallery pieces under his belt, Ed Dwight has become the definitive sculptor of our age for representing the Black experience in America. His path to monument artist was anything but conventional. The twists and turns of his career reveal a range of talents as numerous as they are astonishing – from flying airplanes to running his own businesses. But throughout his life, one thing was always clear: whatever Dwight pursued, he was destined to stand out from the crowd.
Sources:
“Ivan Meštrović,” Britannica.
“Ivan Meštrović,” de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame.
“Ivan Meštrović: The Current State of Criticism,” Dean A. Porter, Syracuse University Library Associates Courier.
Historic images accessed at Wikimedia Commons.