Ivan Meštrović
(August 15, 1883 - January 16, 1962)
Interesting etymology of his surname: "Son of the Master"

The greatest modern Croatian sculptor and one of the most prominent sculptors of the 20th century, Ivan Mestrovic was born in Vrpolje to a peasant family and grew up in the small mountain village of Otavice in Dalmatia. His family struggled to earn a living from their flocks of sheep and goats, so his craftsman father often supplemented their income with temporary skilled labour in Slavonia, which included a great deal of masonry. Mestrovic thus spent much time working with his father, essentially training for what would turn out to be his calling many years later. At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to a stonecutter in Split after his great carving skill became renowned locally, and he eventually managed to receive a scholarship to study art in Vienna--something normally unthinkable for someone of his origins!

In less than a year at the art academy in Vienna, his work was already gaining considerable attention, especially from the more progressive artists who could clearly see that it was quite different. But Mestrovic received no commissions, despite his increasing fame, and constantly struggled to survive on his meagre scholarship. He was eventually approached to do some figures for the Austro-Hungarian imperial palace, but Mestrovic refused, not only because he was unwilling to work in the prescribed style, but also because he was opposed to the Austrian domination of Croatia, which was of course part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time.

In 1905, Mestrovic married and moved to Paris, where he attracted the attention of none other than Auguste Rodin, who told him that he was "the greatest phenomenon among sculptors". During the First World War, Mestrovic even became involved politically by, ironically (in hindsight), helping to form the Yugoslav Committee in order to "liberate" the southern Slavs from Austria-Hungary--something he would come to regret later. During the inter-war period, his fame grew even greater after a series of very successful exhibits across Europe and in the United States, where he received a commission for aboriginal warrior statues for Grant Park in Chicago (erected in 1928 and still stand there to this day). After brief imprisonment during the Second World War by the German occupation, and post-war becoming thoroughly disillusioned with the notion of Yugoslavia and its new Socialist rulers, he left for the United States.

Mestrovic accepted an offer to teach at Syracuse University in 1946 after an unprecedented one-man-show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where he exhibited twenty-five pieces. He continued to receive many honourary degrees, was widely acclaimed as a genius, and even became an American citizen in 1954. Finally, in 1955, Mestrovic became a professor of sculpture at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where he worked until his death in 1962.

On a bit of a personal note, I must say that I think his work can best be described as "hauntingly human". I suppose it's quite the cliché to say that his sculptures seem to truly come to life, but not only are his sculptures lifelike, they also seem to carry the burdens of a very difficult and complex history. In that sense, his work also strikes me as very Croatian.

Some online galleries of his work:

http://www.croatia.net/mestrovic/
http://www.ingin.org/new/modules/gallery/album09?&page=1