Meštrović museum

During my trip to Zagreb in July ’09, I visited the Atelier Meštrović (Mletaçka 8, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; phone 385 1 428 586, www.mdc.hr/mestrovic/atelijer/opci-en.htm). Ivan Meštrović’s studio and 17th-century house are the setting for a vast array of his sculptures and models.

Examples of Croatia’s most famous sculptor’s renderings of famous people, religious icons and just plain folks are exhibited inside as well as outside in the garden. This is a fascinating museum where you can imagine how the artist lived and worked during his years there (1924-1942). There are not only finished works on display but sketches, models and photographs. Entry costs $6.

Meštrović was a friend of Auguste Rodin when he lived in Paris. I noticed similarities in their sculptures. Later in his life, Meštrović lived in the United States and worked as a professor of sculpture in South Bend, Indiana, at the University of Notre Dame, which also owns some of his works from that period.

Many other Meštrović sculptures are installed in public areas around Zagreb and other parts of Croatia (Meštrović’s home in the coastal city of Split has been turned into a museum), but currently there is no all-inclusive map that locates them.

DEANNA PALIĆ

Woodland Hills, CA