Tag: 1904.

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović, Turkey, 1904.

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović
(1872 – 1940)
Turkey, 1904.
casting, bronze
31.5 x 19.5 x 25 cm
MG-615

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović was a prominent modern Croatian sculptor, who studied first in Vienna (1889-1895) and then in Paris (1900-1901), where he became friends and socialised with A. Rodin and M. Rosso. He was one of the founders of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (1907), and was amongst the first instigators and promoters of artistic life in Zagreb. On account of his best works he is considered a credible interpreter and exponent of topical European artistic currents at the turn of the 20th century.
His artistic development reveals different styles, ranging from Academicism through Symbolism to Modernism, that is, the earliest instances of Impressionism in Croatian sculpture. In his mature work he achieved his own unique style featuring unrestrained realistic modelling of figures.
Frangeš-Mihanović’s mastery of, first and foremost, bronze, is visible in his many sculptures of domestic animals, whether they are depicted as thoroughbred specimens of their species or are part of figural compositions.
The form of Frangeš-Mihanović’s strutting Turkey is dynamic with an uneven relief surface, closed volume and full form. The tips of its spread wings touch the pedestal, and together with the fan-shaped tail, articulate the space as an impressionist outline of open surfaces with rhythmic changes of light and shadow.

Text: Tatijana Gareljić, Museum Counsellor at the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Mirko Rački, At Death’s Door (Triptych), 1904

Mirko Rački
(1879–1982)
At Death’s Door (Triptych), 1904
oil on canvas, 89.2 x 176.4 cm
MG-937
Symbolist painters generally preferred literary themes, and Dante’s oeuvre in particular. Vlaho Bukovac painted scenes inspired by Dante’s work, but Mirko Rački (1879-1982) was the painter whose work was most influenced by this theme.
Rački started to get preoccupied with Dante at the suggestion of Izidor Kršnjavi, who was translating The Divine Comedy at the time. For the Croatian translation, Rački produced a series of illustrations and several large painting adaptations. We know that Rački drew a study for The City of Dis in 1906 during his stay in Venice. Rački centred on this cycle almost his entire life, and interestingly, the drawings, gouaches and watercolours for Izidor Kršnjavi’s translation of The Divine Comedy that he produced between 1904 and 1907 were all purchased in 1911 at an exhibition in Italy and can today be found at the Department of Prints and Drawings in Florence.
With its stylistic features, the composition At Death’s Door from 1904, belongs to the symbolist style from the turn of the century: its triptych form, divisionist style, crepuscular ambience, depicted motifs (the sphynx, for example), the use of indistinct intermingling hues, as well as the very theme of the painting. It is important to note that this is one of the three works (along with Meštrović’s Timor Dei and František Bilek’s Magdalene), the acquisition of which in 1905 for the then Modern Gallery in Zagreb, began the formation of the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art and is considered the year of its foundation.

Text: Ivana Rončević Elezović, museum consultant © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb, Zagreb, 2022

Emanuel Vidović, Small World (diptych), 1904

Emanuel Vidović
Small World (diptych), 1904
oil on canvas
75 x 106.5 cm
MG- 6846

In 1892, during his formative period, Emanuel Vidović briefly leaves Venice and Chioggia and moves to a completely different ambience of the industrial metropolis of Milan, which was dominated by modernist progressive tendencies. There, the painter from Split supports himself by doing restoration works and making drawings for the furniture industry. Every evening he would go to the Famiglia Artistica society in Milan to practice painting nudes and costumes. Among the more significant events of Vidović’s Milan period, we should point out his participation in exhibitions Esposizioni Riunite, 1894 and Esposizione Permanente, 1895 where he exhibits paintings depicting the life of Venetian fishermen. As part of the exhibition Esposizioni Riunite, Vidović showcases the painting Venezia peschereccia, as Duško Kečkemet noted, in “a prominent hall, next to two paintings by Segantini”, and alongside paintings of Ettore Tito and Angelo Dall'Oca Bianca. In October 1895, Vidović returned to his native Split, where he assumed the role of a central, unifying figure in Dalmatian art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He distinguished himself with the quality of painting, exhibition activity and organization of a wide variety of cultural events. He remained connected to the Italian milieu throughout his life, with regular visits to the fortuitous Chioggia and the Venice Biennale exhibitions.

The painting Small World from 1904 is in many ways specific and occupies a special and contiguous position in Vidović’s oeuvre, opening the chapter of his peculiar symbolist landscapes. Unlike Vidović’s later “monochromes”, Small World is his only painting that shows an unambiguous connection with Giovanni Segantini’s painting. It was made by applying the divisionism technique literally, with undulating brushstrokes that create a vibrant painting surface.

Text: Ivana Rončević Elezović, senior curator of the National Museum of Modern Art© National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Foto: Goran Vranić©National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

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