Antun Augustinčić (4 May 1900 – 10 May 1979) was a Croatian sculptor active in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Along with Ivan Meštrović and Frano Kršinić, he is considered one of the three most important Croatian sculptors of the 20th century. His most notable sculptures include the ''Peace'' monument which stands in front of the United Nations building in New York City, the ''Miner'' statue in front of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

headquarters in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, and the sculpture of Yugoslav president

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

, present in several copies throughout former Yugoslavia.

Early life

Augustinčić was born in the small town of Klanjec in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region in northern

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, which was at the time part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. In 1918 he enrolled at the Arts and Crafts College 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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, where he studied sculpting under professors Rudolf Valdec and Robert Frangeš. After the college became the Royal Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1922, he studied under the guidance of Ivan Meštrović until his graduation in 1924. He then received a scholarship from the French government and continued his studies at the '' École des Arts Décoratifs'' and ''

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

'' in Paris under the guidance of Jean Antoine Injalbert. In 1925 and 1926 Augustinčić held his first exhibitions in Paris, before returning to Zagreb and exhibiting in Zagreb in 1926 and then again in 1927 in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and Zagreb. In 1929 he was one of the founding members of the Earth Group ( Croatian: ''Grupa Zemlja'') arts collective which brought together prominent left-oriented sculptors, painters and architects, such as Drago Ibler, Krsto Hegedušić, Ivan Tabaković, Ivan Generalić, and many others. Augustinčić took part in several exhibitions organised by the group between 1929 and 1933, when he left the group, two years before it was banned by the authorities in 1935.

Rise to prominence

In 1930 Augustinčić created his first equestrian sculpture for the monument in

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

, after his design won the competition out of the 23 works submitted, with prominent Yugoslav sculptors Risto Stijović and Sreten Stojanović coming in second and third. From then on equestrian statues became one the hallmarks of his career, notable examples being the monument to

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(commissioned in the 1930s but placed in 1991) and his most notable work, the ''Peace'' monument, erected in front of the United Nations building in New York in 1954. In the late 1930s he also created a couple of monuments to King Alexander in

Sombor Sombor ( sr-Cyrl, Сомбор, ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the West Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city has a total population of 41,814 (), while its adminis ...

and

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

(which were later destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

), as well as several sculptures of Croatian politician Stjepan Radić. Other notable works from this period include several family tomb

headstone A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The u ...

s at the Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb, including ''Sorrow'' (1930), ''Moses'' (1932) and ''Icarus'' (1935). In 1940 he became a corresponding member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (JAZU) and his works were featured in the 1940 documentary film ''Croatian Sculptors'' ( German title: ''Bilhauerkunst in Kroatien'') filmed by Oktavijan Miletić. During the war Augustinčić remained active and was commissioned to sculpt a bust of the Croatian ''Poglavnik'' Ante Pavelić. In 1943, he defected to the Yugoslav Partisans' movement and the same year made the bust of

in Jajce. In 1946 Augustinčić became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, and after the war he was made a member of the People's Assembly. In 1949 he was made a full member of the Yugoslav Academy, and from the 1950s onwards he started making

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

s, art nudes, and figurative sculptures. In the years after the war he made a number of notable sculptures, such as the monuments to

in Tito's birthplace of Kumrovec (1948), politician Moša Pijade (1953), violinist

Zlatko Baloković Zlatko Baloković (March 31, 1895 – March 29, 1965) was a Croatian violinist. Early years He was born in Zagreb, Croatia (at the time part of Austria-Hungary), and began violin lessons at age ten. He made such progress that, after three years, ...

(1962), 16th century Croatian writer Marin Držić (1963) and many others. His most important sculpture in this period is ''The Carrying of the Wounded'' (), which evolved from a sketch made in 1944 and which he used as a recurring motif in a number of monuments he created in the following three decades, one of which can be seen in front of the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb. Augustinčić, together with the Serbian painter Đorđe Andrejević-Kun, also designed all of the Yugoslav orders and decorations, and he also created the coat of arms of the

Socialist Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

(with Vanja Radauš). During his visit to Yugoslavia, the

Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia (, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse (, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor w ...

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

met Augustinčić on the Brijuni islands. The Emperor invited Augustinčić to design a monument which will commemorate victims of Italian reprisals in Addis Ababa and stated "''Who better than you will be able to portray the suffering of victims of fascism?''". Augustinčić accepted the invitation and called his colleague Frano Kršinić with whom he designed the ''Monument to the Victims of Fascism,'' also known as the Yekatit 12 Monument. After he completed Yekatit 12 monument, Augustinčić also constructed the ''Monument to the Ethiopian Partisan'' in Holeta Military Academy and the ''Monument to Ras Mӓkonnen'' in

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

. To provide feedback and instruction for the Harar monument, the renowned Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle went to

where he exchanged ideas with Augustinčić. In 1970 Augustinčić donated his works to his native town of Klanjec, where a gallery exhibiting his works opened in 1976. His last great work was the memorial dedicated to the 1573 Peasants' Revolt and its leader Matija Gubec, which was erected near Oršić Castle in Gornja Stubica in 1973. The monument is made of bronze and stone and features a

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

covering . Augustinčić died on 10 May 1979 in Zagreb, aged 79.

Gallery

File:Antun Augustinčić Vajda.JPG, ''Sorrow'', monument at the Vajda family tomb, Mirogoj cemetery in

, 1930 File:Monument to Liberators - Nish.jpg, ''Monument to Liberators of

'', 1937 File:Katowice pilsudski.jpg,

monument in Katowice, Poland, 1936–39 File:Batina2.JPG, Monument ''Victory'' at the Battle of Batina Memorial in Batina, 1947 File:Tito spomenik1.JPG,

monument in Kumrovec, 1948 File:Nosenje ranjenika, Veterinarski fakultet-Zagreb.JPG, ''The Carrying of the Wounded'', Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb, 1953 File:Antun Augustinčić e Frano Kršinić, monumento allo yehkatit 12, 1955, 02.jpg, Antun Augustinčić and Frano Kršinić, Monument to Victims of Italian Fascism in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,1955 File:Baloković bust at Mirogoj.jpg, Bust of

at Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb, 1967 File:Matija Gubec.JPG, ''Monument to the Peasants' Rebellion and Matija Gubec'' in

Donja Stubica Donja Stubica () is a town in Croatia, about northeast of Zagreb on the northern slope of Medvednica. It is connected by the D307 road (Croatia), state road D307 and L202 railway (Croatia), L202 railway. The total population is 5,680, with 2,200 ...

, 1973

References

External links

The Antun Augustinčić Gallery
official website
Some of most famous Croatian sculptors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Augustincic, Antun 1900 births 1979 deaths People from Klanjec People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Members of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia Members of the Assembly of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 20th-century Croatian politicians 20th-century Croatian sculptors Yugoslav emigrants to the United States Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb alumni Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Yugoslav Partisans members Vladimir Nazor Award winners Recipients of the Order of National Liberation Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery