Juraj Škarpa
(1881 – 1952)
Anger, 1921
casting, bronze
60 x 41 x 30 cm
MG-6341
Juraj Škarpa attended the School of Applied Arts in Vienna (1913 - 1914) and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1920, in the class of Prof. Robert Frangeš Mihanović. Influenced by Mihanović, he successfully sculpted female nudes.
He collaborated with Ivan Meštrović on the Račić family mausoleum in Cavtat, after which they permanently parted ways. Stylistically, Škarpa is associated with interwar modernism. He combines Art Nouveau elements with Expressionism, making him one of the few Croatian expressionist sculptors. He created portraits and allegorical compositions in stone and wood, and a significant portion of his oeuvre consists of religious and funerary sculptures.
The sculpture Anger depicts a nude, beastly male figure in motion and contortion. His back is bent, with the right leg stepping forward and the left leg extended backward, both resting on an amorphous mass that flows onto the rounded base, symbolising a pedestal. The face is caricatured with a distressed expression. The right arm is close to the body, bent at the elbow and reaching the chin, while the left arm, with an open hand, is positioned slightly away from the body, lowered, and touching the left thigh. The suggestive movements are driven by intense emotion. The naturalistic modelling and rough finishing accentuate the figure’s expressiveness, raw emotions, and desires.
Text: Tatijana Gareljić, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © Nacionalni muzej moderne umjetnosti, Zagreb
