Mestrovic

The Brooklyn Museum, founded in 1824, celebrates its centenary, notably with an exhibition of the works of Ivan Mestrovic, Yugo-Slav sculptor. Only 41 years of age, Mestrovic has nevertheless for years been as well known as any contemporary artist on the Continent. Oddly enough, his work has never before reached the U.S. Its arrival has caused no little talk, for Mestrovic is an individualist of power. His themes are highly dramatic--heroic figures, gaining in a sort of grim majesty what they lose in intimacy and, occasionally, in essential nobility. Mestrovic's life is interesting in connection with his art. Born of Croatian parents--farming peasants-- as a boy he wandered the fields, tending sheep, carving in wood. The long hours alone with his fleecy flock did much to develop in him the curious individuality which has always been his notable characteristic. At 18, he was apprenticed to a marble worker; and, a few years later, went to Vienna and took up the study of Art. There he fell under the influence of Franz Metzner, Austrian master. From that time on, his success was assured. His reputation gradually swept Europe. The chief characteristics of Mestrovic's work are a rigid simplicity of line; draperies falling in straight close folds; hard, grim faces; heads sunk low or crammed awkwardly into chests; abnormally long noses; cramped postures; elongated forms. Many of these characteristics may be traced to the influence of Metzner. Mestrovic's Madonnas are a distinct type, almost a formula. They are a queer, rigid combination of an almost Eastern tradition with Western realism. Somber, stiff figures, a little wistful, a little pathetic, done with long, simple, vigorous lines. Mestrovic's chief claim to consideration is not intellectual. He is ever emotional. He is conspicuously sculptural. His silhouettes are sharp, simplified. His cuts are deep. He makes the spectator constantly conscious of his medium--wood or stone as the case may be.