Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.31664/ripu.2019.43.19
The First Three Artworks in the Holdings of the Modern Gallery of the Art Society in Zagreb
Irena Kraševac
orcid.org/0000-0002-0494-3757
; Institut za povijest umjetnosti, Zagreb
Sažetak
The article reconstructs the founding of the Modern Gallery in Zagreb and the creation of its holdings, reviewing the data on the first three works acquired for the collection: the painting At the Gate of Death by Mirko Rački, the sculpture Timor Dei by Ivan Meštrović, and the relief Jesus and Mary Magdalene by František Bílek. Based on the archival documents and the exhibition catalogues of the Croatian Art Society, the author proposes a more accurate chronology and the circumstances around their acquisition. It has been established that the first artwork received by the Art Society for the future collection of Modern Gallery in the early 20th century was the wooden relief Jesus and Mary Magdalene by the Czech sculptor František Bílek, donated by Maruša Pavla Neureutterova from Prague to the parish church of St Mark in Zagreb and subsequently, in 1903, by the parish priest Stjepan Boroša to the Art Society. The work was first exhibited in Zagreb at the Art Pavilion, as part of the exhibition of the Czech Art Society Mánes from May to July 1904. Although part of the Modern Gallery holdings since its foundation, this artwork is rarely exhibited and is stored in the Glyptotheque of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The second artwork acquired for the Modern Gallery’s collection was the painting At the Gate of Death by Mirko Rački, which was also shipped to Zagreb from Prague in September 1904, as the painter donated it to the Art Society as a sign of gratitude for the financial support granted for his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. The Society paid for the transport of the painting from Prague and it was exhibited at the Jubilee Exhibition of the Art Society at the Art Pavilion from April to the end of May 1905. The painting is today part of the permanent exhibition of the Modern Gallery. The “great relief ” Timor Dei by Ivan Meštrović was likewise brought to Zagreb as a gift presented by the artist in gratitude for the financial support granted for his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and the Art Society paid for its casting in plaster at a Viennese foundry. It was first shown at the Spring Exhibition of the Viennese Secession in 1905, and in Zagreb at the exhibition of the Croatian Art Society in the Art Pavilion in September and October 1906. The plaster original was destroyed when the relief was cast in bronze in 1986 and is stored in the depot of the Glyptotheque HAZU, while the newer bronze cast is part of the collection of 19th- and 20th-century Croatian sculpture in the same institution. Although it is commonly held that the Modern Gallery in Zagreb was founded in 1905, we have concluded that the gallery was not formally established that year. However, three works were acquired for its future holdings regardless of the Jubilee Exhibition of the Croatian Art Society. The genesis of the collection, which by then featured two works by Croatian artists and one by a Czech, indicates an intention of collecting works from the wider European area, not exclusively national ones. Works by foreign artists would, however, only occasionally come to leave the depot, although they are a significant and interesting segment of the collection and witness to the cultural and historical focus of Zagreb on European modern art in a broader sense, moreover at its pinnacle, which is confirmed by the fact that the symbolist artworks, the painting by Mirko Rački, the relief by František Bílek, and the sculpture by Ivan Meštrović, were created in important Central European art centres – Prague and Vienna – with which Zagreb maintained active cultural contacts in the early 20th century.
Ključne riječi
Croatian Art Society; Modern Gallery; Zagreb; exhibitions; Iso Kršnjavi; Mirko Rački; Ivan Meštrović; František Bílek
Hrčak ID:
233951
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.12.2019.
Posjeta: 2.322 *