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

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 ...

. Along with

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

and Antun Augustinčić, 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) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * Se ...

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

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...

installed at the Niagara Falls State Park,

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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 () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, 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 me ...

(

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Biography

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 Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

island of

Korčula Korčula () 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 Krk. The populat ...

in south

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 the

Austro-Hungarian Empire 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 between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

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

stonemasonry Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using rock (geology), stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with Mortar (masonry), mortar ...

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

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

) in 1912. Upon graduation in 1916 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, 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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, where he worked as a freelance sculptor before becoming a teacher of sculpting at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb in 1924. By the late 1920s his individual expression was formed, away from the mainstream of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

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 (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

. 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 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 artists Academy of Fine Arts in Prague alumni Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery 20th-century sculptors

Biography

References

Further reading

External links