Ivan Antolčić
(1928 – 2019)
Nevenka Filipović – Actress at the Zagreb Puppet Theatre
2008
bronze
167 x 100 mm
MG-8078

Sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, draughtsman, painter, designer and illustrator, he graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb in 1953. From 1954 to 1991, he worked at the Croatian National Theatre as a stage sculptor and set designer. He has successfully illustrated and designed books, as well as theatre posters. Straža editions published his print portfolios (Grain Boat I and Grain Boat II). He created the ceremonial curtain for the Croatian Puppet Theatre in 2006. He has won a series of commendations, prizes and decorations, among which is the ULUPUH Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.
He made reliefs, medals and plaques in free forms, with symbolic content inspired by poetry and childlike playfulness. Antolčić most often cast his medal works in bronze. His free-standing objects dedicated to the theatre are unique, and the artist donated three of his works to the National Museum of Modern Art in 2017.
The free-standing object in the form of a stylized female figure is dedicated to Nevenka Filipović, actress at the Zagreb Puppet Theatre. The small well-proportioned sculpture is made up of four segments – an oval head with a smiling face, lush mid-length hair and a coiled bun on top, a rectangular trunk with a bird and an inscription, a richly decorated trapezoidal skirt and a simple rounded base. The characteristic execution reflects the poetics of a tender, cheerful and sensitive ludic world, as an inherent personality trait of this versatile and above all noble artist whose works have made an indelible mark in many a childhood and theatrical life in the past half century.

Text: Tatijana Gareljić, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art ©National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić©National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb