Promoting Ivan Meštrović in Poland
Ivan Meštrović: Adriatic Epopee (July 24 – November 5, 2017)
International Cultural Center, Krakow, Poland
In cooperation with the Museums of Ivan Meštrović
Members of our team just recently came back from Krakow (Poland) where they presented and promoted the works of Ivan Meštrović through the exhibition entitled Ivan Meštrović: Adriatic Epopee.
The exhibition itself is the first presentation of this Croatian sculptor to the Polish public. Also, this was the first presentation of Croatian art in Poland in such a scale. The retrospective enables a view into the life and work of Ivan Meštrović from his collegiate, Viennese realizations to works that he produced shortly after his experience in World War II. The connections with the Polish historical and cultural milieu are realized through exhibiting material related to the unrealized project for the Józef Piłsudski Monument in Warsaw, the realization of which was disabled by World War II.
Meštrović presents himself to the Polish public as an artistic personality of an extremely complex identity who, through his signature and character, combined the traditions of the West and the East, the Mediterranean and central Europe. In this sense, it is especially interesting to view the position of Ivan Meštrović as a key actor of the central European art scene in the first half of the twentieth century.
The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive catalog written in both Polish and English. The texts regarding Meštrović's art were written by Maciej Czerwiński, Łukasz Galusek, Dalibor Prančević and Barbara Vujanović. The catalog also collects reviews by Wojsław (Vojeslav) Molè, Józef Wittlin, Jerzyj Stempowskog and Andrzej Wróblews who provide insight into the Polish reception of Ivan Meštrović during the twentieth century.
Authors and curators of the exhibition:
Barbara Vujanović, senior curator of Atelier Meštrović
Łukasz Galusek, head of the publishing house of the International Cultural Center
Authors of the texts in the exhibition catalogue:
Dr. sc. Maciej Czerwiński, Łukasz Galusek, dr.sc. Dalibor Prančević, Barbara Vujanović
Texts by Dalibor Prančević, „The artistic and personal journeys of Ivan Meštrović: reflections, rewiews, perceptions“ and Barbara Vujanović „Sculptor in the century of monuments. Meštrović's landmarks in Croatia and around the world“ have been fully supported by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project IP-2016-06-2112 „Manifestations of Modern Sculpture in Croatia: Sculpture at the Crossroads between Socio-political Pragmatism, Economic Possibilities and Aesthetical Contemplation“.
