Virtual Exhibiton "The Artworks by Ivan Meštrović in the Plaster Cast Museum of the City of Zagreb" is available at the link: https://zbirka-mestrovic.gliptoteka.hazu.hr/en
The Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts organised the exhibition in celebration of the 60th anniversary of death of the Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović (1883–1962), Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It thereby wished to stress the important role of this museum and its founder, Dr. Antun Bauer, in safeguarding and safekeeping Ivan Meštrović's artworks, and in establishing the Meštrović Collection as part of the museum holdings of the former Plaster Cast Museum (Gipsoteka) of the City of Zagreb.
The transfer of the artworks by Ivan Meštrović from the damaged premises owned by our celebrated sculptor to the Plaster Cast Museum of the City of Zagreb commenced in 1946. Joint efforts of the representatives of the city and state bodies, the Meštrović family and Dr. Antun Bauer, director of the Plaster Cast Museum, resulted in safeguarding valuable artworks, which could – by being housed in a museum institution – be preserved, restored and presented to the public. The evacuation of approximately two hundred artworks by Ivan Meštrović, which had previously been housed in Meštrović’s Zagreb family home at No. 8 Mletačka, the Meštrović Gallery in No. 12 Ilica and the studio at No. 5 Josipovac to the museum premises lasted until mid-1949. During a three-year period, a pioneer endeavour of safeguarding artworks, which demanded thorough preparations including technical conditions and funds, was realised.
The photographic and archival material from the Photographic Collection of the Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Meštrović Gallery in Split, and the Fine Arts Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts shows the premises in the city of Zagreb where Meštrović had lived and worked, and the artworks that had been housed and exhibited there. Photographs of the Meštrović family house in Mletačka, as well as the studio and the gallery Ivan Meštrović used have been presented here for the first time. The virtual exhibition presents the chronology of the transfer of Meštrović's artworks from the damaged premises in Zagreb and their housing in the newly established museum of sculpture. Apart from offering the chronology of safeguarding the artworks by Ivan Meštrović, thanks to which the preconditions for establishing the Meštrović Collection in the Plaster Cast Museum had been ensured, this exhibition stresses the importance and necessity of a museum as an institution with regard to collecting, safekeeping and exhibiting artworks created by Croatian sculptors.
Virtual exhibition devised and text written by
Tihana Boban, Curator, Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Photographs
Photographic Collection of the Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Fine Arts Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
State Archive in Zagreb
Ivan Meštrović Museums
Translation
Gorka Radočaj
Copy editing
Maja Silov Tovernić
Virtual exhibition: programming, building and maintenance
Link2
Luka Maroević, Ivanka Maroević, Maja Benčec Ivanjko
The virtual exhibition was funded by the City of Zagreb.
