IVAN MESTROVIC (1883-1962) IZLOZBA MESTROVIC - RACKI. 1910.
27 1/2x19 inches, 70x48 1/4 cm. A. Berger, Vienna.
Condition B+ / A-: minor repaired tears at edges; creases and abrasions in image; pencil notations in bottom margin. Mounted on paper.
This image, a bust of the Serbian mythological hero Srdja Zlopogledja, has oft been erroneously referred to as Nero's Head. This same image of the sculpture, which currently resides in the Zagreb Museum of Arts and Crafts, was first used on a poster to promote a Vienna Secession group show in 1910. On a subsequent poster by Mestrovic to promote his 1915 exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, which marked the first time a Croatian artist had exhibited there, the artist employed a photographic image of the same statue. Mestrovic was a sculptor and architect who first exhibited with the Secession in 1905. He was a disciple of August Rodin, and the Rodin Museum in Paris held an exhibition of Mestrovic's work in 2013. This variation of his poster advertises a joint exhibition of the work of Mestrovic and Mirko Racki, a prominent Croatian painter. The catalogue from the Victoria & Albert exhibition explains, "his first collective exhibition was held in 1910 at the Sezession (sic) of Vienna, where it aroused great interest. He made his first appearance before his own countrymen the same summer at Zagreb (Agram), the Croatian capital, conjointly with the Croat painter Racki. In 1911 the Zagreb exhibits, with certain notable additions, were transferred to Rome, where they formed the chief feature of the Serbian Pavilion in the Exhibition of International Art." This image, transferred onto the lithographic stone, is the mirror image of the bust itself, which faces the other direction. rare. We have found no previous copies of this variant at auction. Mascha p. 121 (var), Denscher p. 52 (var).