The National Museum of Modern Art is organising its nineteenth consecutive all-day museum-education project “10 Schools – 10 Artists” on 15 December at the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, because the museum is currently displaced from the Vranyczany-Dobrinović Palace, its home since 1934, due to a comprehensive renovation.
The project, conceived by Ivana Rončević Elezović, PhD, museum consultant and head of the Collection of 19th/20th Century Painting from 1898 to 1918, continues to involve high schools from various parts of Croatia, just as before. This year, the participating schools include: Classical Grammar School Zagreb, Second Grammar School Varaždin, Matija Antun Reljković Grammar School from Vinkovci, High School Valpovo, Vladimir Nazor Grammar School Zadar, XVI Grammar School Zagreb, I Grammar School Osijek, IV Grammar School “Marko Marulić” Split, Grammar School Dubrovnik, and the First Croatian Grammar School in Rijeka. The project’s theme is related to the current exhibition dedicated to Ivan Meštrović at the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, and is explored in working groups composed of three students and a professor-mentor. This approach allows students to acquire new knowledge and develop a fresh perspective on the subject matter they are studying, as well as on the museum institution. They become researchers and presenters of their project.
The professional collaborator on this year's project is Liljana Velkovski, museum pedagogue of the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery.
The National Museum of Modern Art has loaned two of Ivan Meštrović’s sculptures, Portrait of Ruža Meštrović from 1915 and Angel with a Flute from 1918 for the exhibition staged at the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery commemorating the 140th anniversary of the sculptor’s birth. Dajana Vlaisavljević, a museum consultant and head of the 19th-century Painting Collection (until the “Croatian Salon” in 1898), delved into the work of Ivan Meštrović through the prism of his relationship with his wife Ruža, who was also an artist.
List of themes and schools:
Classical Grammar School, Zagreb
theme: Ivan Meštrović’s public monuments
Second Grammar School Varaždin
theme: Meštrović in the NMMA collection, Zagreb
Matija Antun Reljković Grammar School, Vinkovci
theme: Ruža and Ivan Meštrović
High School Valpovo
theme: Sacred in the work of Ivan Meštrović
Vladimir Nazor Grammar School, Zadar
theme: Motif of woman and mother in Meštrović’s oeuvre
XVI Grammar School, Zagreb
theme: Meštrović and Rodin
I Grammar School, Osijek
theme: Meštrović and Secession
IV Grammar School “Marko Marulić”, Split
theme: Meštrović and the Medulić Association
Grammar School Dubrovnik
theme: Meštrović’s mausoleum of the Račić family (Our Lady of Angels) in Cavtat
First Croatian Grammar School in Rijeka
theme: The significance and role of Ivan Meštrović in Croatian art history
Images: Ivan Meštrović, A Portrait of Ruža Meštrović, 1915/ bronze / MG – 802
Angel with a Flute, 1918 / bronze MG-814