Exhibitions
After the exhibition in the Meštrović Gallery, it will be presented at the elementary school in Otavice from 17 to 18 March 2018.
Author of the exhibition
Zorana Jurić Šabić
Graphic design and exhibition equipment
Josip Rajević, Studio 9
Video-animation
Dragan Đokić, Studio Baranda
Exhibitions
Ivan Meštrović and the Native Land
January 26 – March 14, 2018
The Meštrović Gallery, Split
The exhibition Ivan Meštrović and the Native Land explores and documents the artist’s connection with the native Otavice and his artistic work in the native land, with emphasis and comprehensive elaboration of the masterpiece of Meštrović’s sacral architecture: the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer – the Meštrović Family Mausoleum. Meštrović completed the church in December 1930, and archives of construction, architectural drawings, drawings for the decoration of the dome and plaster models for the portraits on the bronze doors of the building are kept in the Ivan Meštrović Museums.
Meštrović’s connection with his native land can be observed and interpreted at several interpretative levels, primarily by following the artist’s biography, but also by looking at the artistic accomplishments created in Otavice (sculptures, paintings and architecture). In addition, within the theme we explore the sources of the artist’s worldview conditioned by the circumstances and the environment in which he grew up. Also, we point to the two-way permeation of the influence (and incentive) between the artist and his native land, which thanks to Meštrović and his architectural accomplishments (family house, elementary school, antimalaria dispensary and family mausoleum) experienced significant change of appearance and improved infrastructure in this small village in the Dalmatian Zagora.
That is why the exhibition places emphasis on Meštrović’s architectural legacy and affirms his work as an architect, while using modern presentation methods: film and video-animation.
Overall, the exhibition includes 14 sculptures in stone, bronze and plaster, two paintings and two drawings. The works come from the collections of the Meštrović Gallery in Split, the Meštrović Atelier in Zagreb, Drniš City Museum, as well as Ivan Meštrović’s heirs. In addition to the Meštrović Gallery in Split, the exhibition will also be shown at Otavice, in the newly-renovated complex of the former elementary school, a building built in 1931 with the dedication and determination of Ivan Meštrović in accordance with his conceptual design.
Exhibitions
