Robert Jean-Ivanović
(1889-1968)
A Kneeling Female Nude, 1918
bronze
MG-2511
Croatian sculptor, medallist, modeller and high school teacher Robert Jean-Ivanović studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (1908-1909, 1911, 1914), in Munich (1909-1910) and in Prague (1915-1916).
Robert Jean-Ivanović’s central artistic preoccupation was with the human figure and portraiture. Initially, these were studies of the male body and dynamically broken male figures captured while doing hard manual labour, which he grouped into a series called Labour (1915-1928). He also modelled several public monuments and realistic portraits, such as A Portrait of Painter Karlo Mijić from 1939.
The largest thematic unit of Jean-Ivanović’s oeuvre comprises poeticised studies of female figures, including his Love (1918-1919) and Dancers (1923-1936) series. Regardless of whether they are executed as free-standing sculptures or as low reliefs, his sculptures feature ethereal presentation, soft and tender modelling and graceful postures, such as his A Girl with a Rose (circa 1920) and A Portrait of a Young Girl (1922) reliefs. A Marble Female Torso (1937) and its bronze derivative A Female Torso – An Amazon (circa 1940) are Jean-Ivanović’s finest pieces representing the beauty of the female body of a balanced harmony and a poeticised theme. Modelled in an interesting seated position, Robert Jean-Ivanović’s A Kneeling Female Nude from 1918 is an intimate sculpture featuring Art Nouveau stylisation.
Text: Tatijana Gareljić, museum advisor 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