Frano Kršinić (24 July 1897 – 1 January 1982) was a Croatian sculptor active in former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. Along with

Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's ...

and

Antun Augustinčić Antun Augustinčić (4 May 1900 – 10 May 1979) was a Croatian sculptor active in Yugoslavia and the United States. Along with Ivan Meštrović and Frano Kršinić he is considered one of the three most important Croatian sculptors of the 20th ...

, he is considered one of the three most important

Croatian sculptors Croatian may refer to: * Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) Croatoan may refer to: * Croatoan Island (now ''Hatteras ...

of the 20th century. His most widely known work is the statue of

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 1856 – 7 January 1943 ...

installed at the

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, an identical copy of the monument residing in front of the building of the School of Electrical Engineering,

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...

(

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

Biography

Kip Nikole Tesle ispred Elektrotehničkog fakulteta u Beogradu

Kršinić was born in 1897 in the village of Lumbarda on the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...

island of

Korčula Korčula (, it, Curzola) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after ...

in south

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

, which was at the time part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. He was born into a family with a long tradition of

stonemasonry Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, ...

, and he was also trained at the local stonemasonry school before going on to attend the stone-working and masonry school in

Hořice Hořice (, also known as Hořice v Podkrkonoší; german: Horschitz) is a town in Jičín District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Březovice, Chlum, Chvalina, ...

(in present-day

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) in 1912. Upon graduation in 1916 he enrolled at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Prague The Academy of Fine Arts, Prague ( cs, Akademie výtvarných umění v Praze; AVU) is an art college in Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1799, it is the oldest art college in the country. The school offers twelve master's degree programs and on ...

, where he studied in the classes of renowned Czech sculptors Josef Václav Myslbek and Jan Štursa and graduated in 1920. He then returned to Croatia and settled in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, where he worked as a freelance sculptor before becoming a teacher of sculpting at the

Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb The Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb ( hr, Akademija likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu or ALU) is a Croatian art school based in Zagreb. It is one of the three art academies affiliated with the University of Zagreb, along with the Academy of Dramatic Ar ...

in 1924. By the late 1920s his individual expression was formed, away from the mainstream of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

and the overwhelming influence of

. In this period his style and sculptural elegance took shape through a number of works defined by soft lines in closed forms such as ''Awakening'', ''Diana'', ''Young Woman Tending a Rose'', ''Reading'', ''After the Bath'' and others. In the following decades Kršinić devoted himself to works marked by finer chiseling in marble, mostly of female art nudes and motherly motifs, such as sculptures titled ''Meditation'', ''Mother Feeding a Child'', etc. In 1947 he was made master sculptor and head of the sculpting workshop at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1948 he became a member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop J ...

. In his last decades Krsinic created numerous small format sculptures which varied the theme of the young girl, as well as art nudes. Works such as ''Worry'', ''Sunbathing'' and ''Resting'' are said to represent perfection in the softness of sculpting in marble. He retired from teaching in 1967 and in 1975 he stopped sculpting.

References

External links

*
Frano Kršinić short biography
at Tate.org.uk
Frano Kršinić biography
at Korcula.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Krsinic, Frano 19th-century Croatian sculptors 20th-century Croatian sculptors 1897 births 1982 deaths People from Lumbarda People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia Croatian sculptors Vladimir Nazor Award winners Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts 20th-century Croatian people Academy of Fine Arts, Prague alumni Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery 20th-century sculptors

Biography

References

Further reading

External links