Kažimir Hraste, 1954
L, 1989
wood
97.5 x 38 x 21.5 cm
MG-6390

Kažimir Hraste (1954) graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1978 under Prof. Valerije Michieli, and completed his postgraduate studies in Ljubljana in 1984 under Prof. Drago Tršar. He specialised in Rome in 1990. He is a full professor of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, and a professor of drawing and design at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy of the University of Split.
Hraste has created a great sculpture oeuvre. His public monuments and sculptures are dominated by religious and historical themes and figures. He is the author of many concept design solutions for commemorative gold and silver coins minted by the Croatian National Bank. His portrait sculptures feature masterfully captured psychological characterisation. As far as his abstract compositions are concerned, he executes them mostly in wood, then in metal and acrylic glass sheets, by using the method of addition which heightens his sculptures’ expressive significance and creates associative ties.
Executed in a neo-cubist manner and fragile in structure, Kažimir Hraste’s freeform L sculpture from 1954 explores the constructive and structural potentials of wood from different angles. It is composed of several counterposed wooden segments which seem to defy gravity.

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