Tag: Robert Frangeš – Mihanović

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović, Summer, 1903

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović
(1872 – 1940)
Summer, 1903
bronze; silver plated
295 x 229 mm
MG-2029

With his free and innovative approach to sculpture, Robert Frangeš-Mihanović confidently anticipated the impressionist and symbolic characteristics and aspirations of the new art at the turn of the century. For his master of execution and feeling for materials, primarily bronze, and his painterly understanding of relief, he is regarded as one for the the finest European artists of his time. This is most evident in his plaques and medals, which brought him international acclaim.
Frangeš’s medals and plaques with animalistic and figural motifs (such as The Bull and Stallion from 1895, Winegrowers from 1900) marked the beginning of Croatian modern medal making. Influenced by the giants of French Art Nouveau medal making, Jules-Clément Chaplain and Oscar Roty, the young Croatian artist advanced the art of medal design by introducing the Renaissance form of the plaque and enriching the allegorical content, further affirming the medal as a work of art.
His Art Nouveau cycle The Four Seasons, a series of small masterpieces created in 1903, is the best example of his free approach to composition and motif, characterised by lyrical modelling. Each of the four cast bronze one-sided plaques depicts a season represented by the heads of young maidens.
The unique plaque Summer from the NMMA collection, features the profile of a girl facing left inside a rectangular field. Her features are idealised, with a gracefully stylised semi-long, lush, flowing hair with hair tips stylised in the form of roses. The signature is in the bottom right corner. Below the frame, there is an inscription in two lines dedicated to the renowned Croatian cultural figure: DRU IZIDORU / KRŠNJAVIU. In the bottom right corner, there are three shields (Triune Kingdom). The plaque is applied to leather covers of the folder, with silk dark red inserts.
Despite their limited quantity, Frangeš’s sculptural-medallist works portray him as an authentic interpreter and exponent of the prevailing European artistic processes and events of that time. He liberated relief sculpture from Renaissance and classicist models, elevating it to the status of an independent artistic discipline.

Text: Tatijana Gareljić, musem consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Robert Frangeš – Mihanović, Saint Dominic, 1893

Robert Frangeš - Mihanović
(1872 – 1940)
Saint Dominic, 1893
carving, Carrara marble
69 x 25.5 x 21.7 cm
MG-590

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović was a prominent modern Croatian sculptor and medallist, 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 organisers of artistic life in Zagreb.
Frangeš was a master at, first and foremost, bronze sculpture, although he was just as skilful at working with marble, a fine example of which is his portrait bust of Saint Dominic (1893). His artistic development reveals different styles, ranging from Academicism through Symbolism to Modernism, that is, the earliest instances of Impressionism in Croatian sculpture. His mature work reveals his own expression featuring Realism in the unrestrained modelling of figures.
In 1892, Robert Frangeš-Mihanović went on a study trip to Italy (Venice, Padua, Florence) where he became acquainted with ancient sculpture and Roman portraiture, as well as the works of the great Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello. In addition to his first portrait of a Roman Citizen, in 1893, Frangeš-Mihanović also sculpted the bust of Saint Dominic in Carrara marble, executed in the naturalistic and realistic manner. Saint Dominic is depicted in a monk’s habit with a hood. On the front side, under the bust, there is a relief depicting a rosary on top of a book, a goose quail and an inkstand. The figure is shaped without idealisation, the neck and face revealing dry, sagging skin of an old man, sunken eyes and tightly pressed dry lips. The portrayed face reflects fatigue and profound wisdom, as well as individual psychology. Frangeš-Mihanović received awards for this sculpture in Budapest in 1896 and in Paris in 1900.

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

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović, A Philosopher, 1897

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović
(1872-1940)
A Philosopher, 1897
bronze
MG-588

Robert Frangeš-Mihanović was a prominent modern Croatian sculptor and medallist, who studied in Vienna (1889-1895) and Paris (1900-1901), where he became friends and socialised with Auguste Rodin and Medardo 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.
Frangeš-Mihanović was a master at, first and foremost, bronze sculpture, although he was just as skilful at working with marble, a fine example of which is his portrait bust of Saint Dominic from 1893.
The different stages of development of his career featured different styles, ranging from Academicism through Symbolism to Modernism, i.e. the earliest instances of Impressionism in Croatian sculpture. His mature work reveals his own expression featuring Realism in his unrestrained modelling of figures.
In the initial stage of his career (1893-1914), he succeeded in harmonising the stylistic features and elements of Art Nouveau, Symbolism and Impressionism, which is why the works he modelled then are considered to be of the highest quality in his entire oeuvre.
Frangeš-Mihanović’s A Philosopher sculpture is from this period. It is a study of his that he did for his Philosophy relief, the most original of the four allegories he modelled for four buildings of the University of Zagreb. Philosophy adorns the Golden Hall of what was then the palace of the government’s Department of Worship and Teaching (10 Opatička Street in Zagreb’s Upper Town), headed by his patron (and art historian, politician, painter and writer) Izidor Kršnjavi.
The form of Frangeš-Mihanović’s A Philosopher is compact and is modelled in the spirit of Rodin’s concise representation of a powerful inner substance.

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

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