Original scientific paper
Girl with a Torc/The Genius of Enlighment — A newly discovered public work by Hinko Juhn
Davorin Vujčić
; MHZ - Galerija Antuna Augustinčića
Abstract
On the southern facade of the Gymnasium in Kušlanova street at the height of nine metres stands a bronze statue of a girl bearing a torch,. It has not been known, until recently, who the author was, when the statue was put up or, indeed, why. The research has shown that the building was designed by the architect Egon Steinmann in 1934. It was under construction between 1935 and 1937, when the statue was placed on the southern facade as an Expressionist attribute, quite common in architecture at the time. Since no data has been found in any relevent sources about the author of the sculpture and the plaster east of the statue owned by the school has not been signed, the only way to find out who the author had been, was to reach the bronze sculpture itself. In February 2004. after climbing the side of the building to reach the statue, the author of this thesis found a signature of the Croatian sculptor, ceramist and pedagogue Hinko Juhn (born in Podgorač in 1891, died in Zagreb in 1940) on it. The iconographycal analysis of the statue has shown an affiliation with French sculptors from the 19. century such as Francoise Miche]-Pascal, Augustin Dumont, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Auguste Bartholdi (also with figure from unknown author in Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb), all of whom had used torch bearing female figures to symbolize the ideas of Enlighment. It is therefore safe to conclude that the bronze statue by Juhn erected upon the facade of the Gymnasium in Kušlanova street represents The Genius Of Enlighment.
The comparative analysis which has been done with the statue called Jugoslavija, the central figure of the sculpture Memorial For The Fallen From Šumadija made by Antun Augstinčić in Kragujevac in 1932, shows certain similarities in sculptural forms between the two. Yet, in spite of those similarities, it is clearly visible that the two sculptures differ: while the expressive Realism of Augustinčić yields to monumentality, Juhn' s Girl With A Torch exudes that soft and harmonious style of Secession and Art Deco.T he figure on the facade of the Gymnasium in Kušlanova street fits in well with the rest of Juhn's work both morphologically and conceptually, since in his ceramic and small plastic work he has been noted for, he often presented female water bearers, reapers and bathers holding distinctive objects.
In his public plastic work he frequently depicted mythological and allegorical scenes, from Nereids and sea-nymphs to Amazons and allegorical aspects of pottery. His relief called Mason's And Potter's Trade, made in 1938 for Matica hrvatskih obrtnika (The Croatian Tradesmen's Guild) in Zagreb, was considered the biggest in size until the discovery of his twelfth public sculpture, which has proved that Girl With A Torch on the south side of the Gymnasium in Kušlanova street, is not only the biggest of Juhn's public plastic works but also his biggest sculpture in general. It is probably also well-worth noting that this is the fourth public sculpture by Hinko Juhn retained in its original form.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
148739
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2005.
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