MEŠTROVIĆ IN AMERICA: 'LIVING
FROM THE CLOD OF CROATIAN SOIL ATTACHED TO HIS ROOTS'
From My Memories of Meštrović
KARLO MIRTH
- - - -
Journal of Croatian Studies, XXIV,
1983, – Annual Review of the Croatian Academy of America, Inc. New York, N.Y.,
Electronic edition by Studia Croatica, by permission. All rights
reserved by the Croatian Academy of America.
- - - -
In December 1948 I sent from
Madrid an issue of Croatia Press[1]
to Ivan Meštrović. The sculptor who had left Europe in January 1947,[2]
was living at that time in Syracuse, New York, at 201 Marshall Street. I sent
him the newsletter at the suggestion of friends who told me that Meštrović
had seen some earlier issues and would be interested in receiving the bulletin
regularly. A month later I received from Meštrović a handwritten letter in
Croatian dated January 12, 1949, in which he said:
Thank you
for your letter of December 17 as well as for your bulletin Croatia Press.
Your
effort is useful and commendable. Carry it on as far as you can. Perhaps our
people will be aroused, will come to their senses, and instead of sterile
discussions and arguments, will start with something more positive. If that
were to happen perhaps your bulletin would expand as Mr. Tijan[3]
anticipates.
I wish you
my best in the New Year, etc.
After that letter, I exchanged
with Meštrović occasional brief communications of no special significance.
When in 1952 I immigrated to the United States, and particularly after I
visited him in Syracuse in June 1953, our contacts became more frequent.
When I visited him, Meštrović
lived at 817 Livingston Avenue. It was an unpretentious but cozy home, which
Meštrović's family had made a miniscule Croatian oasis in this provincial
American city. I thought how strange it was that he had moved to Syracuse to
live. After all, one would recall that in 1924-25 he had spent about nine
months in the United States and had exhibitions in New York (Brooklyn Museum),
Chicago, Detroit, and other cities; that his two equestrian statues of American
Indians have been standing in Grant Park in Chicago since 1928; and that
shortly after his arrival in 1947 the Metropolitan's Museum in New York
honoured him with its only one-man show of a living artist, an event
unprecedented in the museum's historu story.
If one were to compare his
Syracuse home with his beautiful homes in Croatia, and the old barn converted
into his studio with the studios he had left behind, then one could truly
appreciate the sacrifice he made by deciding voluntarily to remain in exile.
However, the greatest sacrifice for him was being separated from his people.
But he did not complain. He got a place to work and was able to make a living,
though modest by the standards he was used to. To him the most important thing
of all was to have a place where he could work.
At the time of my visit, about two
months before Meštrović's 70th birthday — I was 35 then — I found him
vigorous, jovial, and in good spirits. The weekend I was there we spent fifteen
hours together, with most of the talking done by him. It seemed he wanted to
give me as much background information as possible about the numerous important
events in which he had taken an active role. It was a fascinating story
characterized by witty observation, occasional anecdote or spicy comment, and
the philosophical reminiscences of a man who had an extraordinary gift of
understanding the human condition with penetrating insight into both body and
soul. It was obvious that he enjoyed enormously any opportunity to talk in his mother
tongue with his compatriots, particularly if they shared similar interests and
concerns for Croatia and faced in their own ways the problems of adjusting to
life in America.
Meštrović told me that upon
his arrival in the United States he had found that many Croatians active in
cultural affairs were interested in establishing a committee, something like a
Croatian National Commitee.[4]
It was to be expected that in such a committee Meštrović would play a
leading role. He was sympathetic to the idea, and he thought that the trial and
sentencing of Aloysius Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb, in October 1946 and the
general situation in Croatia and Yugoslavia provided strong arguments for the
formation of the proposed committee.
Dr. Vladimir Maček, President
of the Croatian Peasant Party between the two World Wars, who had also arrived
in the United States in 1947, was overwhelmingly called to lead the committee.
Without Maček no representative committee could be put together.
Meštrović, who had always attempted to stay aloof from party politics and
who therefore could serve as an arbiter among various political groups, was
willing to serve on such a committee and give it his full support, as he had
done for other causes in the past. While praising Maček for his
extraordinary integrity, Meštrović was critical of what he called his lack
of political drive. Interestingly enough, later during one of my first visits
to Maček in Washington, he told me "Meštrović keeps saying that
he is not interested in politics, but he is always involved in it".
The sculptor told me many details about efforts made by Yugoslav officials, including Tito himself, to induce him to return to Yugoslavia. His long-time friend Monsignor Svetozar Ritig, pastor of St. Mark's Church in Zagreb — one of the few Catholic priests who joined Tito's partisans during the war — wrote him long letters saying that Tito wanted him to return and that Meštrović was then needed more than ever, as Tito's regime was embarked "on doing something new never done before in history". This was followed by a public invitation Tito made through Jo Davidson,[5] an American sculptor who completed a bust of Tito.
Upon his return to the United States Davidson said to the press that Tito had told him: "Tell Meštrović not to be a fool. His studio in Split is intact. His sculptures are preserved. Tell him to return". Asked by the press for his reaction, Meštrović answered that the Yugoslav ambassador in Washington had conveyed to him similar messages on several occasion even suggesting he could go back for a visit incognito before making his final decision. Meštrović added that he had replied to the ambassador: "I will return incognito to Belgrade only when Tito leaves incognito for Moscow".[6]
Meštrović told me about his
meeting with Milovan Djilas and asked me to keep it confidential. Djilas, who
was at that time the most important man after Tito in the Yugoslav Communist
Party and government, had arrived at New York in the fall of 1949 to attend the
General Assembly of the United Nations. Sava Kosanović, the Yugoslav
ambassador in Washington, informed Meštrović that Djilas had an important
message for him and would like to meet him personally. At Kosanović's
insistence Meštrović finally agreed to see him in New York City in
mid-November. Meštrović was staying at the Henry Hudson Hotel.
As arranged, Djilas and
Kosanović arrived in the hotel after parking their limousine in a nearby
street. Meštrović suggested that instead of going somewhere by car, they
all walk to a Greek restaurant not far from the hotel where the food was good
and where they could talk. Djilas told him that Tito had been deeply offended
by the sculptor's rebuke of his invitation made through Davidson, but since the
Marshal deeply appreciated his art and believed Meštrović to be
misinformed about the situation in Yugoslavia, he was inviting him again to
come back.
Djilas added that Tito personally
vouched that Meštrović would enjoy full freedom. There were no strings
attached. No. one would ask him to make any statements which might be
interpreted as political support of the Party or government; moreover he could
even criticize them, if he chose to do so. The Yugoslav government would buy
Meštrović monumental Pietŕ, which had been exhibited at the
Metropolitan Museum, for a substantial amount in U.S. dollars (a six-digit
figure was mentioned). Furthermore, upon his return he would have at his
disposal all of the means and services that would be his if he were a member of
the Yugoslav government.
Everything would be placed at his
disposal, because they believed him uniquely qualified to inspire and lead the
artistic life of Yugoslavia. Djilas confessed to him that the artists in
Yugoslavia had concentrated on the topics of the "people's war of
liberation and socialist construction". No one had forced them to do so,
Djilas said, but they chose that way, and now they were coming to repeat
themselves in a stereotyped manner. "We want the arts to be liberated from
these stereotyped forms. We want diversity and believe that there is no one who
could give a more forceful and vigorous impetus to a new trend in that
direction than you".
During their discussion,
Meštrović told me, he questioned Djilas about the trial, sentencing, and
treatment of Cardinal Stepinac. Djilas replied frankly: "To tell you the
truth, I believe — and not only I — that Stepinac is a man of integrity, of
unwavering character. He really was sentenced as a righteous man, but how many
times has it happened in history that just men were sentenced because of
political necessity".
To Meštrović's question
"Who in your opinion has more followers in Croatia, Tito or
Stepinac?" Djilas replied: "This is a difficult question, but I will
answer it honestly. We have in Croatia no more than 3%, and in Yugoslavia as a
whole no more than 5%. But that does not matter, because Christianity also
began with a small number of followers".
Meštrović made it quite clear
to Djilas and Kosanović that he would be very uncomfortable as the only
non-Communist enjoying complete freedom, including the right to criticize the
Communist regime without incurring the risk of punishment, while some of his
friends had lost their lives and others were languishing in prison. Though it
was obvious that Meštrović was not going to accept Tito's invitation,
Djilas insisted that the sculptor give him a reply to Tito's message.
"If this must be done",
Meštrović said to Djilas, "you will find my reply in the following
story. I hope it will not bother you that this is a story about Heaven. There
was a man observing Saint Peter opening a small window, giving a quick look,
and closing it firmly. Curious, the man asked about that window, and Saint
Peter told him that it was a window with a view to Hell. The man asked if he
could take a look. Saint Peter told him that this was dangerous, and he advised
him not to do it, but the man persisted and Saint Peter finally acquiesced.
When the man looked through the
window, he was fascinated with the spectacle he saw: there were half-naked
young girls dancing, there were tables loaded with the best food and drink,
orgies and frolics were in progress. Seeing that, the man insisted that he
wanted to go to Hell. "Are you so foolish?" Saint Peter asked him.
But despite the repeated warnings "Don't forget; once you go there there
is no return for you", the man insisted, and Saint Peter finally let him
go. At the very moment the man entered Hell, the scene changed completely. He
found himself surrounded with toothless old women and black devils grinning
maliciously. The man, dumb-founded, asked: "What happened? Where are those
girls, the wine, the food?" "That was only propaganda", answered
one of the devils, and all Hell burst into laughter. This story is my
reply", said Meštrović to Djilas. "Did you understand it?"
"Yes", Djilas answered dryly.
In the article I wrote about my
conversation with Meštrović, published in the September 1953 issue of Hrvatska
revija,[7] I naturally
did not mention Meštrović's meeting with Djilas, and I limited myself to
stating generally that Tito sent messages and emissaries in an attempt to
convince Meštrović to return, counting on the sculptor's homesickness. I
know that Meštrović told to other people the story of his meeting with
Djilas, under the condition that they keep it confidential, and they did. When
in January 1954 Djilas was stripped of all party and government positions at
the dramatic meeting of the Central Committee in Belgrade, I obtained from
Meštrović a lengthy interview, which I published in the February 1954
issue of Croatia Press.[8]
There Meštrović for the first
time publicly stated that he had met and talked to Djilas on one occasion, but
he gave no details, saying only: "As far as I could ascertain from that
meeting and discussion with him, he is a convinced and zealous Communist, but
he is against the socalled Moscow Stalinist implementation of Communism. He is
an intellectual and an idealist, and there may be a certain number of those
like him among our Communists; in addition he is a Montenegrin
individualist". Not until three years later did Meštrović publish in Hrvatska
revija a detailed account of his discussion with Djilas, and even then it
was about only that part which dealt with the innocence of Cardinal Stepinac.[9]
Meštrović's version of his talks with Djilas and Kosanović, as he
told it to me in June 1953, was for the first time reported in my Croatian
language memoirs of Meštrović published in Hrvatska revija in 1962.[10]
Later, after Djilas got in more trouble
with the Party and government and was sentenced to prison, I talked about his
case with Meštrović on several occasions. We agreed it was ironic that
Djilas' former party comrades justified his imprisonment by "political
necessity" in the same way that Djilas explained the imprisonment of
Cardinal Stepinac.
Another topic we discussed that
June weekend was the deteriorating health of Cardinal Stepinac, who suffered
from a rare blood disease. Meštrović told me of several things he had done
already and others he planned to do. He had asked Cardinal Spellman as well as
some other prominent American Catholics to intervene with the U.S. Government
to make it possible for some specialists to examine the Cardinal, advise about
his treatment, and provide necessary medications. He told me that he had also
sent a direct appeal to Tito expressing his hopes that Tito would have enough
respect for the character and courage of the Cardinal, despite the fact that
they were ideological adversaries, to make it possible for Stepinac to get
proper medical care. This appeal was answered almost immediately, stating that
three physicians were offered, but that Stepinac had refused them.
Meštrović had his doubts and said he would continue to push the Yugoslav
authorities to allow Stepinac to be examined by physicians of his choice or by
American specialists.
During our conversations
Meštrović reached as far back as World War I to explain some historical
events in which he took part, providing fascinating details, anecdotes, or a
view from his current perspective. From his words one could sense how much
idealism had guided him, Ante Trumbić, Frano Supilo, and other Croatians
who during World War I had formed the "Yugoslav Committee" in London,
working toward the goal of establishing Yugoslavia, a country that would
comprise Southern Slavs, including Croatians, Serbians, Slovenes, and others.
They conceived and visualized the country in a quite different form than it has
turned out. No one likes to acknowledge that the ideals and hopes in which he
had invested so much of his youthful enthusiasm have betrayed him, but
Meštrović did that without vacillation. "Because of predatory
neighbors and because of cultural, economic, and other reasons, we thought that
a common state would be the best solution. Even today when a foreigner notes
that there is not much difference in the language and looks at a geographic
map, it seems that this is the best solution. Unfortunately, we just cannot be
together".
Between the two World Wars he was
often a guest at the Belgrade court, and he narrated many details from his
discussions with King Alexander I and Prince Paul. He also talked about his
imprisonment in 1941 in Zagreb by the regime of Ante Pavelić, and how he had
burned the notes of his memoirs. He said that he had largely rewritten and
restored them, but that they had not yet been put into proper order to be ready
for publication.
Meštrović usually did not
talk much about his art. He did not this time either, as he took me through his
studio. He had completed a really herculean twenty-six foot high statue of
bronze called "Man and Freedom", destined to decorate the facade of
the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The statue had just been dismantled to
be packed for shipment, so I saw smaller scale models. Other works included a
six foot bronze of Saint Anthony for Oxford University and a portrait bust in
plaster of the Croatian scholar Vatroslav Jagić (1838-1923) for the
University of Vienna. He had been working on a full scale model of a huge
monument to the Montenegrin poet Prince Bishop Petar Petrović Njegoš
(1813-1851). This was to be Meštrović's gift to the People of Montenegro-
The monument was later executed in grey granite and set above Njegoš grave at
Lovćen mountain, not without controversy both in Yugoslavia and among
certain exiles to whom I will refer later.
I also saw a finished model of the
statue of a Croatian poet, the Franciscan monk Andrija
Kačić-Miošić (1704-1760), who is the author of the very popular
book of poems Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga (Venice, 1756), a collection
written in the style of long epic ballads glorifying national heroes of the
past in the struggle for freedom and justice. The verses of Kačić,
who called himself "Old Man Milovan", were so popular that many
village people knew them by heart and have transmitted them from generation to
generation for two hundred years. Meštrović himself memorized these
stanzas in his childhood and would occasionally recite some of them or quote
from them.
Meštrović made the Kačić statue for the Franciscan monks of the monastery of Zaostrog, Croatia, where Kačić lived. The Franciscans planned to observe the 250th anniversary of Kačić's birth in the spring of 1954, so they asked Meštrović if he could make a statue of their famous confrere. Meštrović readily agreed to make it as his gift, but he could not defray the cost of casting it in bronze, as this would be a costly proposition in the United States. He wrote to the Franciscans to ask the State Foundry in Zagreb to make the casting free of charge. He grinned telling me that as it was quite certain that Tito's censors would read this letter before the monks, this might influence those in power to make a favorable decision. After all, he believed that the regime would take into account the reverence that the Croatian people feel toward Kačić. The statue would be placed in Brist, the birthplace of the poet, which is in the vicinity of Zaostrog.
I made some color photographs of
the sculptures and models in his studio, and of the artist himself; the latter
was published in Hrvatska revija in 1962.
These are the highlights of my
conversations with Meštrović in Syracuse in June 1953, which I have
described in the article in September issue of Hrvatska revija.
After my conversation with
Meštrović I understood much better some of the allusions in his statement
on Cardinal Stepinac which he had sent me six months earlier and which was
published in the Syracuse Herald Journal of December 11, 1952. Meštrović's
statement said:
"Archbishop
Stepinac has remained consistent in his actions and his beliefs. In public and
private he has been speaking the truth of his own conviction and defending the
conviction of the Croat people. His statements at the Zagreb trial demonstrated
this. Cardinal Stepinac's identification with the beliefs and aspiration of the
Croatian people brought about his condemnation by the regime, despite the fact
that they knew he was innocent of the alleged crimes.
"In
vain did those who took away his freedom console themselves by declaring that
history has been filled with examples of just men being condemned because of
'political necessity.' They will fail to persuade anyone that such
condemnations in the past were humane; nor will the citation of cases of
'political necessity' in the present profit the present regime in the eyes of
the people.
"The head
of the present Yugoslav government has himself declared—I think
imprudently—that the Serbian elements in present day Yugoslavia and their
clergy are opposed to the liberation of the Cardinal. This opposition is the
real reason for the continued detention of the prelate. What becomes then of
the slogan 'Brotherhood and Union?' How can this be construed to prove that
there is stability within the state if half of the people consider as 'traitor'
the man whom the other half of the people regard as a saint? How can other
stares have faith in such a country?
"I do
not know the attitude of the Serb people towards the Stepinac case; I only know
the 97 per cent of the Croat people are for Stepinac and only 3 per cent for
the Communists, according to the Communists themselves. Consequently, if the
present Yugoslav regime desires to appease the Croat people and the great Roman
Catholic Church, they must give Stepinac his full freedom and let him exercise
his religious duties. Stepinac has remained faithful to his people and to the
Church which he symbolized. No regime can eradicate the people and their faith.
"I
know that such a solution would be disagreeable to the regime after all that
has happened, but to admit one's own mistake and correct it is more courageous
than to ignore it. The regime has Stepinac physically in its power but not
morally and they are balancing unsteadily on a tight rope over a chasm.
'The
Stepinac case indicated that those who believe in immortal life are the more
courageous. Stepinac and those who are similar to him believe that the true
life cannot be shackled or destroyed. Therefore, the struggle is between two
unequal powers, one transitory the other eternal.
"Those
who hold at the present moment the reins of power should contemplate a little
whose will be the ultimate victory. The Montenegran [sic] Serbian-Orthodox
Bishop and a great poet Njegos said: "Happy are those who live for ever;
they had a reason for being born". The others are either not remembered at
all or only mentioned for their evil."
Shortly after my conversation with
Meštrović in Syracuse Tito repeated publicy that Stepinac was refusing
medical help because he wanted to make himself a martyr. This prompted
Meštrović to dispute Tito publicly. In a statement to the press
Meštrović disclosed information that he had just received from reliable
sources inside Yugoslavia. The Syracuse Herald Journal of July 23, 1953,
reported Meštrović's statement in an article under the headline "Rare
Blood Disease Threatens Life of Yugoslavian Cardinal". The following is
the text of the article:
A rare
blood disease will threaten the life of Aloysius Cardinal Stepinac of
Yugoslavia if he is not permitted to visit Germany or the United States for
treatment, Ivan Meštrović charged this morning.
Meštrović,
prominent Yugoslavian sculptor-in-residence at Syracuse University, revealed
today that informants inside Yugoslavia had smuggled out word about Stepinac
with the hope that Meštrović would make the cardinal's true condition
known outside Yugoslavia.
Two weeks
ago, said Meštrović, Marshal Tito declared that the cardinal had refused
medical examination, and refused to go to a seaside resort for his health.
Stepinac
wanted to be a martyr, said Tito, and Yugoslavia would take no further action.
Stepinac is confined to his native village of Krasnic (sic).
Disputing
Tito's statement, Meštrović said he had received reliable information that
several "noted Croat physicians" had examined the cardinal a few
weeks ago, diagnosing his dines as a rare blood disease.
These
physicians are of the opinion he should come to Boston for treatment, said
Meštrović, adding that Stepinac 's life "is in grave danger if he is
not given proper treatment".
"In
Yugoslavia", he explained, there are not the necessary facilities to treat
such an illness".
"The
statement of Marshall Tito asserting that Stepinac has refused medical
examination is exact only if he was referring to a group of physicians that
might have been sent by the authorities and in whom Stepinac did not have
confidence.
It is not
true that Stepinac is seeking to be a martyr. It is true that the cardinal is
not afraid to die, but it is out of the question that he wants to contribute to
the shortening of his own life. This is completely contrary to Christian
teachings.
"I am
sure that Marshall Tito knows that to die in defense of one's religious and
national rights is not the same as to commit suicide.
Tito seems
to expect the early death of the cardinal, charged Meštrović, but he
"does not seem to realize that if Stepinac dies he will be a much more
dangerous opponent for the regime than he is while alive."
The
cardinal's death would further deepen he conflict between the Yugoslav government
and all of Christianity, predicted Meštrović.
"The
case of Cardinal Stepinac is only a part of a wider conflict between two worlds
and two ways of life", he commented.
"Stepinac is the symbol of this struggle against the denial of God in Yugoslavia, but he is not the only victim in the struggle for the freedom of the human conscience. Many other bishops and hundreds of priests are imprisoned in Yugoslavia".
Stepinacs
case has another aspect in addition to the religious side, said Meštrović.
His persecution is regarded by the Croats as persecution of the entire Croat
nation within Yugoslavia.
"This
is why the death of the cardinal could be just as fatal for the internal
cohesion of the Yugoslav state in the future as the assassination of the Croat leader
Radić was in the past".
The
cardinal was found guilty in 1946 of collaborating with the Axis powers and was
given a 16-year sentence, but freed in 1951 on condition he does not leave his
native village without permission and that he does not perform any of his
churchly functions.
A few months before the sculptor's
seventieth birthday, on April 29, 1953, the American Academy of Arts and
Letters made the announcement that Ivan Meštrović had been selected to
receive its Annual Award of Merit. It pointed out that Meštrović was the
only living man to have had a one man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
It also said that he had been described as "a mystic of vigor, violence,
majesty and profundity," and "the greatest sculptor of religious
subjects since the Renaissance".[11]
Time magazine of May 18, 1953, in an article "Life Begins at 70" described Meštrović as a sculptor of the old school who works "with a blazing intensity; he has been known to do as many as nine major works plus a score of minor pieces in a single year". Nearing his 70th birthday the sculptor "served notice that time had dulled neither his vigor nor his artistry". Time described several of his recently completed sculptures, and the article further stated that to a question about the philosophy that guided him through his work, the sculptor had replied:
"Sculpture and art in general should contribute to human civilization, to human progress and mankind's spiritual development. In my opinion, 'abstract in art' is only another slogan. All great art must be expressed within the limits of form. As though must be expressed in form, so the craftsmanship of the artist must be subjected to the discipline of honest workmanship".
The Time article was accompanied
by a picture of Meštrović with his model of the sculpture of Njegoš.
A group of Croatian writers
addressed the sculptor on the occasion of his 70th birthday and solicited his
views on numerous topics. The questions and answers written in Croatian were
published in Croatia Press and Hrvatska revija.[12]
This lengthy interview is of special interest as it revealed the sculptor's
intimate views on several topics. Here are excerpts from his answers to a few
questions.
To the first question of how he felt
at 70 he answered that he felt it more as a number, as a grizzled beard
reflected in his mirror, than physically and by his mental disposition. "I
am not disturbed by the fact that the number of my years indicates that the end
cannot be that far, because life does not have too much attractiveness, and man
lives through it as a duty". He explained that he had asked himself the
same question at the ages of forty, fifty, and sixty, and the question was:
"What have you accomplished of all that which you have planned and wanted
to do? How much of the blame falls on yourself and how much on circumstances,
that you have accomplished only some trifles of what you aspired to do?"
However, he said, he should not
complain; other people in the past had similar problems.
"An artist by the nature of
his calling is a stranger anyway, whether he is abroad or in his homeland, and
he must reconcile himself to his fate, must seek his chez soi and develop it
within to other regions and foreign lands, its roots have always lived from the
attached little clod of that soil from which it sprung".
himself. However, in my life, I
had a priceless companion: poverty; poverty in both a narrower and a broader
sense, that of my family y and my nation. The first helped me never to be
afraid of material difficulties, for I reasoned I could never have less than I
had when I started. The second drove me to persevere in my work, so that at
least in my own field my nation's poverty would be diminished. I always
harbored a feeling which I whispered silently to myself: 'You, my small poor
homeland, you are for me the greatest and dearest thing in the entire world'.
If I have accomplished anything of value I am indebted to that feeling more
than to anything else. No matter how far fate and circumstances have blown the
frail tree of my life.
To a question about the fate of
his "Arts Pavilion" in Zagreb, which had been the property of the
Croatian Arts Society when the government of Ante Pavelić transformed it
into a mosque in 1941, Meštrović said that at that time in his capacity as
President of the Curatorial Committee he protested against seizing the
Society's property; however, he later felt that this had been "a prudent
and appropriate decision of 'Poglavnik', because about a million Croatians of
Moslem religion have a right to have in the capital their own visible and
characteristic place of worship. I thought that in our general national
interest this was more important than our artistic needs. I have heard that the
building has again been transformed, and that it is no longer a mosque. I do
not know what purpose it serves now. As far as I am concerned, if I were the
owner of the building, I would have donated it to our Moslem brothers to use
for their place of worship"[13]
Responding to a question about the
monument to the millions of Jews who perished during World War II, planned to
be erected in New York City, Meštrović said that he had the approval of
the committee in charge of erecting the monument and of the respective Art
Commissions of New York City and New York State, but that some crisis had
developed within the committee promoting the project, so that the plan had been
shelved. He did not know if it would be revived. "The monument", he
said "was conceived on a universal basis, i.e. as a monument to all the
victims who had fallen in the last war, but in the primary place would be the
Jews, because the number of their victims was proportionately highest and they
had been killed so cruelly. The center of the monument was to be an obelisk
inscribed with the Ten Commandments as the moral center of all civilized
humanity. Beside the Decalogue some sentences from the Sermon on the Mount
would have been included. The main figure of the monument would be Moses, who
with a powerful move directs humanity toward an understanding of the
Commandments and obedience to them. In a long relief behind his figure there
would be shown a multitude representing humanity, figures from all nations and
religions, and the great spiritual leaders who through the centuries strove
toward the moral ideal of humanity".
One of the questions asked
Meštrović was: "Critics have often said that you are against so
called abstract art. What does that mean?"
He answered, "You have done well to formulate your question as 'what does that mean', as that makes my answer easier, which is that I don't know either, even though I belong to this age. I am not against searching for the new, far less against accomplishments which do not observe certain established rules. But in this case I see neither frank searches, nor accomplishments worthy of mention. One could discuss- this topic at length, but it belongs more to the field of psycho-pathological analysis than to the field of artistic endeavors. It is perhaps characteristic of our time, which in its spiritual convulsions or powerlessness overturns all concepts of values. It is better that I be short, because even those more outspoken than me can through longer explanations fall easily into controversies. This could happen more easily to me, because in principle I am not against the new; moreover, I believe that where there is no innovation there is no creativity. However, I would not engage in a discussion of artistic accomplishment in sculpture, let us say, where a piece of twisted iron hanging on a wire from the ceiling is labeled `Aspiration' or whatever else comes into the head of some artist; or a piece of soiled canvas looking as if somebody had cleaned his brush on it is referred to as 'Colorative Mood'; or lines drawn with a ruler forming squares, triangles, and irregular circles is entitled 'Cosmos' ... Some of the old masters of the past, if they could see these achievements would say: 'Untalented ignoramuses'. However, even such a judgment would be only half the truth, to which should be added the pathology of our times and a swindle which continuously is looking for slogans, with such slogans then becoming 'schools'. After half a dozen isms they found 'abstract'. This sounds more profound, more mystic, like something which ostensibly could be compared with metaphysics."
There was not only praise on his
birthday. Kanadski Srbobran, the organ of the Serbian National Defense,
a Canadian Serbian-language newspaper, attacked Meštrović and the Croatian
people in general. Meštrović replied on July 19, 1953, with a letter to
the editor. He sent me a copy of that letter, and I published it in Croatia
Press.[14] Following
is the English translation of some parts of that letter, sparked by the
sculptor's fine irony:
I would not comment on the author's opinion about the concept of the above-mentioned sculpture [Meštrović's "Njegoš"] nor on the "caricatures" of the Serbian heroes, whom, according to him, I have maliciously disfigured. I would not comment because I am familiar with the aesthetic perception of the contemporary Balkan people and their concepts about art. The author could have rather addresed himself to the many people over the world who for over half a century have written about those sculptures, to explain to them that as a matter of fact they have "nothing Serbian in them". And how could they have, naked as they are without Balkan breeches and dolmans or knivds, called concealed vipers—which, after all, could not be shown in the sculpture because they are hidden. Nor would I comment on the author's statement that in the "pitiful Croatian history" I could not find motives. I could only offer him an apology that, although being Croat, I regarded those heroes of mine in the same way as Grgur of Nin or Matija Gubec, though he could not find any others of value on the Croatian side. At that time I and my generation did not see such strict boundaries separating Serbians and Croatians as the present generation sees.
Meštrović was particularly
incensed by the insinuation that he had exploited Serbia materially, and he
said that if any one could bring him proof of that, he was willing for every
dinar he had received to return a thousand.
It is true that at my initiative Serbia erected its pavilion at the International Exhibit in Rome in 1911 in which, besides my work, there were exhibited works of other of our artists, both Croatians and Serbians. That pavilion cost Serbia a certain amount of money and an attack from Austria, but its prestige, which had not been that great, was enhanced in the world, and it began to be looked upon as a leader in the liberation of the South Slaves.
Also in his letter he referred to
the arrangement he had made in 1919 with the government of the Kingdom of the Serbians,
Croatians, and Slovenes by which he donated the fragments of the Kosovo
monument under the condition that the government pay him annual dividends for
the cost of the materials and the work invested. The government had paid him
only for a few years.
"God help the poor Serbs ...
I wish that, together with Njegoš, and not just for them but for their Croatian
brothers as well, who also need God's help".[15]
On April 11, 1954, Meštrović
was awarded the "Christian Culture Award" given annually by
Assumption College of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In his acceptance speech he
described how he had started his series of wood carvings "The Life of
Christ".[16]
Meštrović could have become an
American citizen in 1952, but as in many other matters he waited for his
decision to mature. It disturbed him that his acceptance of American
citizenship could be interpreted as renouncing his Croatian nationality.
Several of his American friends had told him that no one demands anymore that
people forget their national origin; moreover, that they are welcome to point
to it and emphasize it. However, on the eve of accepting American citizenship
in November 1954, Meštrović wanted to make this point clear, and in an
interview with Owen Crumb of the Associated Press on November 7, 1954, he said:
"There is nothing unusual about my becoming an American citizen. I am simply following in the footsteps of millions of Americans who came to this country as immigrants. Like them, I have come to the United States seeking liberty and a peaceful way of life.
"I am honored, but above all, happy to become a citizen of this great and free country, a country whose greatness can be measured not only by her geographic size and material resources, but also by her invigorating spirit of freedom which gives dignity to the human being, life for the democratic form of government and hope to the world.
"I
seek citizenship as a matter of firm conviction and as a result of a deep desire
to become an American, knowing that by doing so I need not exclude my love for
the Croatian people from whom I drew my life and my inspiration."
Meštrović was one of 22
distinguished persons selected to represent 50,000 new citizens throughout the
United States to be received in the White House by President Eisenhower in a
nationally televised ceremony".[17]
It was not a pure coincidence that
in the same interview in which he discussed U.S. citizenship Meštrović
revealed the details about the gift he had made to the Croatian people and the
conditions he had made to the government of the Croatian Republic. Here is that
part of Owen Crumb's article:
Although
Meštrović refused to return to Yugoslavia after the Second World War, his
house and chapel in Split, which he built between the wars, were not
confiscated by Tito. Meštrović has not forgotten "the Croatian people
from whom I drew my life and my inspiration" and his belief in the force
of religion.
He
disclosed in an interview this week that he had converted his house and chapel
into a museum and that, seven months ago, he shipped the "Life of
Christ" panels to Yugoslavia to be installed in the chapel as a gift to
the Croatian people.
"The
Government of the Croatian republic agreed to the conditions.
"I was informed by Dr. Cvito Fisković, commissioner of art and historical monuments, that the panels had been installed. Interestingly enough, no publicity halt been given to this fact, nor has there been any announcement that I have opened my house and chapel to the public and given my art work to the Croatian people.
"I
wrote the bishop of Split, requesting the prelate to consecrate the chapel and
to appoint a priest to celebrate mass in the chapel.
"A month
ago I received a letter from the bishop, telling me that he had discusssed the
matter with Dr. Fiskovic who said that since such a matter was outside of his
jurisdiction, he had for-warded the request to the government in Belgrade.
"That
is where the matter stands."
Asked
whether he thought the anti-religious and anti-Catholic Tito government would
respect the agreement to permit masses in the chapel, Meštrović replied:
"I don't know. I feel, however, that the government will respect its signature to the agreement."
Apparently
another battle of wits has shaped up with Tito still bargaining for
Meštrović's return.
It would
appear that Marshal Tito will get his answer on Thursday.
In an interview given to United
Press[18]
at the same time Meštrović repeated that he had donated his home to the
Croatian people, providing that the home be turned into a museum and that the
chapel in Split as well as another in his native village, become public
monuments but remain at the same time places of worship under ecclesiastical
jurisdiction.
The United Press correspondent
asked Meštrović for his reaction to Tito's pro-Western policy, to which
Meštrović answered:
"I
believe like many other people, that Tito was forced to embark by circumstances
on a pro-Western policy. Despite the fact that Tito shares the ideology of the
Soviet rulers, he does not wish to be Moscow's vassal and does not want the
Soviet Union to exploit his country and rule it as a satellite. Tito's
"pro-Western" policies have helped him in two directions: 1.) He has
received considerable economic help, and 2.) the peoples of Yugoslavia have
grown somewhat less hostile to the regime since Tito no longer gets his orders
from Moscow. Tito cannot be blamed for desiring to remain neutral and
independent from the two great world power blocks because the first duty of
every statesman is to defend the interests of his own country."
To a
question: "Do you think Tito is doing a good job in unifying the peoples
of Yugoslavia," Meštrović replied:
"I believe that Tito might have the best intentions in this question, but as far as I know, he cannot succeed in unifying the peoples of Yugoslavia because he is unable to grant full equality to the Croats and Serbs. This can readily be seen from the statement Tito made to an American newspaperman in which he asserted that he could not release Cardinal Stepinac and stop persecuting the Catholic Church because of the Serbs. In other words he acknowledged that today, as before, under the monarchy, the ruling group is Serbian. This the Croats cannot accept, nor can the Macedonians, Albanians, etc."
Meštrović was very happy when
he received the news that the Yugoslav government after several months of
delaying tactics finally gave the permission for consecration of his two chapels
as agreed when he donated his residences to Croatian people. Frane Franić,
Catholic bishop of Split consecrated the chapel of Holy Cross on March 7, 1955
in presence of a large crowd of people. I published a report on chapel's
consecration in Croatia Press.[19]
America, National Catholic Weekly Review (New York, vol. 93, no. 8, May
21) gave to that event wider publicity in article "Moral victory for
Meštrović". The article referring to Meštrović gift to Croatian
people said:
"The Communist Government pledged
that it would allow the consecration of the chapels and their use for religious
purposes, but later hedged on its promise and delayed fulfillment. According to
the April issue of Croatia Press, a bulletin published in Cleveland,
Ohio, the Ministry of the Interior in Belgrade sent confidential instructions
to local Communists in Split, site of one of the chapels, directing them not to
permit the chapel's consecration. The Catholic press in the United States and
elsewhere got hold of the story. On March 7, Dr. Frane Franić, Catholic
Bishop of Split, consecrated Mr. Meštrović's chapel, having finally
received permission from the Communist authorities. The only assignable reason
for their capitulation seems to be the unfavorable publicity which the Ministry's
underhand action produced abroad. According to the Croatia Press, people in
Yugoslavia consider that Professor Meštrović has won a signal moral
victory over the Communist regime. It is all the more meaningful for having
been won in the field of religious art."
The University of Notre Dame in
South Bend, Indiana, conferred upon Meštrović an honorary degree in 1954.
The President of the University, Father Theodore Hesburgh, asked the sculptor
on that occasion if he would like to come to Notre Dame to teach religious art
and work at "a place where his work would really be appreciated".
Meštrović accepted the offer and joined the factulty of Notre Dame in
September 1955 under the university's Distinguished Professor Program.
More honors were bestowed upon
Meštrović. The American Institute of Architects in presenting the sculptor
their Fine Arts Medal for 1955, accorded him the following citation.
"From your shephered boyhood in the Dalmatian Alps to your mature achievements in Europe and America, you have held steadfastly to the conviction that art is the most profound expression of man's spiritual nature. Never forgetting the lessons learned from the past, with a devout respect for the integrity of materials, you have constantly aspired to a simpler more direct form of expression—a form undesistandable by men of all races, all creeds, of all time.
Notre Dame University conferred
upon Meštrović a Doctor of Fine Arts degree on June 5, and Marquette
University the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on June 8, 1955. [20]
Two exhibitions of
Meštrović's art were held in 1955, one in Syracuse in January and one in
South Bend in November at the Festival of the Arts that is presented annually
by the Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters.
Anna W. Olmsted, director of the
Syracuse Museum of Arts, in an article in the Syracuse Post Standard
(January 29, 1955) said the art works for Meštravić's "magnificent
exhibition" were selected by the Maestro himself. She quoted Rodin's
statement calling Meštrović "the greatest phenomenon among the
sculptors" and Edward Alden Jewell of the New York Times who
referred to Meštrović's "exceptional power in the broad sculptural
tradition stemming from Michelangelo by way of Rodin", and then said:
"Religious subjects have been portrayed passionately, with unfailing
spiritual quality. The several Madonnas are beautiful in their simplicity
created with never a hint of sentimentality. When stark tragedy is depicted as
in the stone relief "Refugees", "Grieving Woman", and
"Jesus Taken down from the Cross" in wood, one marvels at the
evidence of deep emotion wrought through understatement and elimination of
unnecessary details.
"Not that all the works are
tragic—far from it. There are "The Lute Players", a flagstone relief:
"Christmas Song", "Angel with Violin" in wood, "the
Baggipe Player" in marble, and the wonderful dark stone relief
"Archers of Domagoj" with its fuge like rhytms; and many happy
"Mother and Child" themes."
In concluding the article she said
that Meštrović's years as sculptor in residence at Syracuse University had
brought him many new friends and admirers who were quite unreconciled to his
pending departure from Syracuse and who wished him and his wife God-speed.[21]
After I moved from Cleveland to
New York City in 1956, Meštrović would always call me when coming to New
York. He would arrange his business in such a way as to have a free afternoon
and evening, and I would meet him and we would spend several hours in
conversation. Most of the time he stayed at the Hotel Barbizon Plaza on Central
Park South. Other times he was at the apartment of his son Mate (Matthew).
Typically, I would leave my office about four o'clock and we would start to
talk in his hotel room. Later we would sometimes have dinner at a restaurant in
the Barbizon, or more often at Macario's, a small Italian restaurant on 58th
Street. We would stay there until ten or eleven o'clock at night.
Meštrović wanted to be current on Croatian cultural and political affairs.
I informed him of everything I knew about this, and in turn I heard from him
numerous extremely interesting details on current and past events. These
meettings were for me among my most rewarding experiences.
That year 1956, within the span of
a few weeks Meštrović was in New York twice. The American Academy of Arts
and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters awarded
Meštrović their Gold Medal for Sculpture on May 23. At the same ceremony
Aaron Copland was presented the Gold Medal for Music. On the same occasion
Meštrović was one of seven artists inducted as members of the National
Institute of Arts and Letters.[22]
Columbia University awarded
Meštrović the degree of Doctor of Letters on June 8 at the University's
202nd commencement"[23]
On both occasions he met with some New York Croatians. During the early days of
that June, Tito made a trip to Moscow, returning the previous year's visit by
Khruschev to Belgrade. Alluding to Meštrović's statement made some years
earlier turning down Tito's invitation, I said to him jokingly: "Meštar,
now that Tito has departed for Moscow, you should return to Yugoslavia".
"Oh, no, no", he replied laughingly, "I said when Tito returns
to Moscow and remains there".
In the year 1956 Meštrović
executed several religious works for Notre Dame, among them "Christ and
the Samaritan Woman at Jacob's Well' in bronze and black marble, located on the
campus; a crucifix; a wood relief "Last Supper", and others.
It seems that Meštrović's
energy did not decrease with advancing age. Remarkably, besides his involvement
in American life and strenuous full time work in his studio, he also followed
numerous Croatian exile publications as well as others published within Yugoslavia
itself. Above all, he corresponded with numerous people. There was, of course,
his business correspondence in English and other languages, and personal
letters from his friends and acquaintances, Croatian and others, including some
of his compatriots he never knew personally. His wife Olga, who looked after
him in every way possible, was of invaluable aid in handling his
correspondence. It was characteristic of Meštrović that — while always
stressing his position of being a nonpolitical person — he could not resist the
temptation to state his opinion in political matters whenever he had an
opportunity to do so, and particularly when challenged. So when the editor of Savremenik,
a Serbian language news magazine published in Paris, sent a questionnaire to a
number of prominent people from Yugoslavia living abroad, Meštrović
included, Meštrović was one of those who promptly obliged. The questions
and answers published in Savremenik no. 12 (1957) were also reproduced
in Zajedničar,[24]
published by the Croatian Fraternal Union in Pittsburgh, the largest
Croatian-language weekly newspaper in the United States.
Since Meštrović has been
often referred to as one of the architects of the first Yugoslavia, his answers
to Savremenik are of special interest in as far as they indicate some
conclusions to which he had arrived at this stage of his life. In the following
paragraphs I will either reproduce or summarize in English the most important
points he made.
"Neither the exiled
politicians, nor myself", he wrote "are called to say the last word
on relations between Croatia and Serbia and the relations among the republics
of Yugoslavia. Only the peoples of those republics, and of the autonomous
regions as well, will have this word. Politicians can and will search for a
common platform, but as I said, the final decision is up to the people on the
basis of equal rights. A contented population represents the greatest and only
real strength of each nation (state) or of a community of nations (states). Now
let's go to your questions".
Question: "Is it possible and
desirable to find a common platform for unified political action on the part of
the democratic representatives of Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian
emigrées?"
Answer: "It is understandable
that a common platform for all the peoples of Yugoslavia and particularly of
Croatians and Serbians, who live on 80% of the territory of Yugoslavia and
represent about 70% of its population, would seem desirable. However whether it
would be possible to form such a platform, I do not know. It seems to me that
the prospects are poor. The basic problem of Yugoslavia has been, and remains,
a consenting agreement on relations between Croatia and Serbia as states. I
believe that such an agreement would be welcomed by the other associated
members of the Yugoslav community of nations because it could serve them as a
model in settling their own relations with the community. Only on the basis of
such an agreement between the representatives of Croatia and the
representatives of Serbia would it be possible to establish conditions for
joint actions directed internally or externally".
Question: "Hasn't the time
come for the democratic representatives of our three peoples in exile to
address an appeal to their compatriots calling on them to unite in the struggle
against the Communist dictatorship and to link their struggle with the struggle
of the other peoples of Yugoslavia?"
Answer: "It is always time,
and especially now, for our political representatives to act in a conciliatory
manner and advise their followers to conduct a tolerant and mutually respectful
discussion on the questions which separate them. This could only be helpful,
even if it would not bear immediate results. Who preaches peace is on the right
path."
To a question as to what is the
main obstacle to a joint struggle of political exiles against the Communist
dictatorship, Mestrović gave a lengthy answer in which he pointed out:
"The main and essentially the only obstacle is that the representatives of
Croatia and Serbia — if they are that, or to the extent that they are that — in
representing the two main nationalities have been unable so far to reach an
agreement about their future mutual relations, if they have ever seriously
attempted to do so ... By failing to deal with this main problem, the solution
of the problem is avoided altogether ... "
"As for removing Communist
dictatorship in the country [Yugoslavia), I believe that it is possible to make
a contribution to its removal from outside by countering it with new, sounder,
more liberal, and more justice-promoting ideas. But to remove it totally would
be possible only from inside when new ideas gain the upper hand".
"One of the strongest
arguments of today's rulers [of Yugoslavia) in justifying their dictatorship is
that the former politicians and their generation were unable to solve the
problem of relations between Croatia and Serbia, as well as their relationship
with the other nations and nationalities within Yugoslavia, and that they were
not in favor of policies promoting social justice. Activities of the
politicians in exile seem to give some credence to this argument. Of course,
Communist practice is different from theory. Though today's federal structure
is fair enough, the governments of the republics have little power, and
basically everything is under Belgrade's centralist rule. The situation is no
better with respect to social justice, as the Communists enjoy all the
privileges. If the exiles could agree on a constructive program and
continuously jab at Communist weaknesses, this might perhaps be the best way to
force them to change, or at least to bring them to reason. However, one should
recognize that they have done some good things which will stay. They stopped
the continuation of the civil war, though the adversaries suffered enormously
heavy losses which were the result of savage revenge rather than of necessity.
The head of the state has conducted a subtle, skillful, and courageous foreign
policy — except toward the church — and so far has achieved good results, which
his adversaries must recognize."
"In concluding this letter I
wish to emphasize that the Croatian people are today determined more than ever
to establish their own state in which they, along with those Serbian brothers
remaining and enjoying equal rights within the borders of the Croatian state,
will be their own masters. The Croatian people cannot and will not abandon this
right at any price. It is not pleasant to stir up old quarrels, but their
experience with the first and second Yugoslavia has only strengthened the
Croatians in this decision. Serbia and Croatia have many common interests and
can form a united front toward third parties, but they cannot administer
justice to each other or impose laws upon each other. When our Serbian brothers
comprehend this and take it into account, then it will be easy to make an
agreement with the Croatians, and the two peoples will continue to live side by
side enjoying security for the mutual benefit of both".
In 1958 Meštrović completed
an eleven-foot bronze statue of Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, the
priest who offered the first parish mass in the continental United States
almost four hundred years ago. The statue at the ancient Mission of Nombre de
Dios in St. Augustine, Florida, was unveiled and dedicated by Joseph P. Hurley,
Archbishop of Florida, on April 13, 1958, before almost five thousand pilgrims.
Meštrović and his wife were also present.[25]
The same night Meštrović was rushed to a hospital in Jacksonville, where
late in the night an appendectomy was performed on him. His condition was
excellent, and he recovered promptly.
Archbishop Hurley, who served as
Papal Nuncio to Yugoslavia after World War II, had a great admiration for
Archbishop of Zagreb Aloysius Stepinac, whose trial he had attended. Hurley
ordered some other religious sculpture from Meštrović, and they became
friends, visiting each other. I know that at one time he suggested that
Meštrović, and he collaborate in writing a book about Stepinac.
After having carefully evaluated
all arguments pro and contra, in 1959 Meštrović came to the conclusion
that the moment had come to visit Croatia after seventeen years of absence. He
had noted changes in that period of time and had pointed out some positive
achievements; his son Matthew had made a trip there and traveled all over the
country; the sculptor had received assurances that he would be able to travel
without any restrictions and see anyone he wanted. He told me that the first
person he was going to see would be Cardinal Stepinac, who after being released
from jail, lived confined in the parish house of his native village Krašić
in the vicinity of Zagreb.
Meštrović and his wife Olga
left New York by ship on June 23 and took the train from Paris to Zagreb, where
they arrived on July 3. The next day, the American Independence Day,
Meštrović and his wife were the center of interest at a reception held at
the U.S. Consulate in Zagreb. The Yugoslav newspapers, however, reported
Meštrović s arrival very briefly, in only a few lines. The Meštrovićs
met their son Tvrtko, who lived in Zagreb; their other son Matthew from New
York joined them there a day or two later. The sculptor visited two of his old
friends, Monsignor Svetozar Ritig[26]
and Milan Ćurčin.[27]
Both were in poor health. Ćurčin, one of Meštrović's closest
friends and confidants had been paralyzed and bed-ridden for over a year. There
were only brief moments when he could speak coherently. Ritig also was partly
paralyzed and talked and walked with difficulty. Meštrović declined
Ritig's invitation to stay in his residence, as he was quite happy in the Hotel
Esplanade, a Zagreb landmark that the sculptor knew well from old times.
However, he accepted Ritig's offer to use his government car, apparently placed
at Ritig's disposal because of the high position he had in the government.
Having accepted that offer, Meštrović found that Ritig's nephew, a certain
Angelo, a younger man, was around him most of the time. He described him as a
"servile type" as he told me about his Zagreb encounters. When he
told Angelo that he would like him to have Ritig's car ready for Friday morning
July 10 to take him and his wife to Krašić to visit Stepinac, Angelo
turned pale, got fidgety, and said that he was afraid this could not be done.
Then apparently he went to consult some people from the Yugoslav police UDBA
and returned with the suggestion that Meštrović write a petition to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. Meštrović flatly refused and said that he
believed he had the right to move freely whenever he wished to go. Faced with
the sculptor's adamant decision, no further attempt was made to stop him from
visiting Stepinac. He went to Krašić with Ritig's car.
The police guard in front of the
parish house was removed that day.
The Meštrovićs arrived at the
Krašić parish house about 10 o'clock in the morning, had lunch with
Stepinac and the pastor Josip Vraneković, hastily prepared by the nuns,
and stayed there until 4:30 in the afternoon. This was the first time that
anyone had visited Stepinac without a special permit. It was a big surprise for
the Cardinal and an emotional encounter of the two men, as Meštrović
recounted to me later. The Yugoslav press did not publish a word about Meštrović's
visit to Stepinac, but when a few days later, on July 13, he met Miloš Žanko,
the Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, this was
immediately published in all the papers.
As soon as I received information
that the Meštrović-Stepinac meeting had taken place, I reported it in Croatia
Press,[28] which thus
was the first in the world to break the news at the time when Meštrović
was still in Yugoslavia. Many periodicals made use of the Croatia Press report[29]
America, National Catholic Weekly Review based on it an editorial.[30]
On August 20 I wrote a letter to the New York Times with a critical
comment about Paul Underwood's dispatch from Zagreb that had been published by
the Times on August 19. Along with my letter I sent a copy of the latest
issue of Croatia Press and called their attention to Meštrović's visit to
Stepinac. A few days later I received a reply dated August 25. The first part
of the letter was a reply to my comments on Mr. Underwood's report; the second
acknowledged that the meeting between Meštrović and Stepinac had gone
unnoticed, but said that the Times would follow it up.[31]
Monsignor Ritig organized a dinner
in honor of Meštrović. Among those present were Zlatan Sremec, President
of the Sabor (Croatian Parliament); Većeslav Holjevac,[32]
mayor of the City of Zagreb; the sculptor Frano Kršinć,[33]
and others. When Sremec asked Meštrović if he intended to visit Tito,
Meštrović answered that he did not plan to ask for it. "What would
you do if you were to receive an invitation?" Sremec continued. "I
would not refuse it", Meštrović answered. The very next clay he
received the invitation to visit Tito at Brioni.
Meštrović arrived at Brioni
on July 25 and stayed there for a week. After that he went to Split, then to
Otavice, the village of his ancestors and of memories of his youth. From there
he proceeded on to Zagreb and again by train to Paris, from Paris to Le Havre,
then by the "Queen Mary" to New York.
There are many details about
Meštrović's trip to Croatia that I have published, partly in English and
partly in Croatian, in succesive issues of Croatia Press between June and
September 1959.[34] I wrote a
larger article in Croatian after Meštrović's death for Hrvatska revija,
which includes an account of his talks with Stepinac and Tito.[35]
Meštrović himself had briefly described his meeting with Stepinac in
Hrvatska revija after Stepinac's death.[36]
Meštrović spent a few days in
Paris and met some Croatian friends, among them Ante Smith Pavelić.[37]
Meštrović also met in Paris the editors of Nova Hrvatska, a Croatian
language newspaper published in London, and in talks with them he gave an
account of his impressions from his trip to Croatia. He briefly discussed his
visits with Stepinac and Tito and reported that the antagonism between
Croatians and Serbians was great and that nationality conflicts existed even
within the Communist Party [38]
While he was in Paris
Meštrović visited the Museum of Auguste Rodin,[39]
his former teacher and friend. He entered the garden, full of sculptures, then
the museum and Rodin's house, which he knew so well. In that house
Meštrović had spent many days and nights with both Rodin and Bourdelle.[40]
Every room brought back to him recollections of some event related to their
work or to discussions or good times they had together. When he learned that
Bourdelle's widow was still alive, he went to visit her in Montmartre.
Bourdelle's house had also been converted into a museum. Both Meštrović
and Mme. Bourdelle were deeply moved by this unexpected encounter after so many
decades.[41]
Meštrović also revisited the
Louvre, where he wanted to see only three sculptures: the Venus de Milo, the
Victory of Samotrace, and the goddess Hera.[42]
Meštrović and his wife with
their little granddaughter Olga Šrepel (daughter of their late daughter Marta)
arrived on the "Queen Mary" at New York on September 1. Waiting for
them at the pier were their daughter-in-law Jane, Matthew's wife, with her
little daughter Marta and myself.
The fact that Meštrović had
been Tito's guest in Brioni prompted the Yugoslav representative to the United
Nations, Dobrivoje Vidić, to board the ship in New York Harbor to greet
him and offer any assistance he might need. Correspondents from the New York
Times, the New York Herald Tribune, and Time magazine had
boarded the ship earlier. Meštrović in talking with them about his
impressions, had the highest praise for Cardinal Stepinac, his opinion of whom
had been confirmed by their meeting. However, he also talked quite favorably
about Tito. When Jane and I met the Meštrović's, the correspondents were
still around. Talking with the Times correspondent I mentioned to him that
while the Yugoslav press had given wide publicity to Meštrović's visit to
Tito, it had not printed a single word about the sculptor's visit to Stepinac.
In the news reports on Meštrović's return published the next day, no one
mentioned Tito's diplomats who had met him. The New York Times published a
picture of Meštrović and reported only his visit to Stepinac, passing
silently over his visit with Tito.[43]
The next day Meštrović
visited Cardinal Spellman and informed him about his trip. I met him after that
in the Hotel Barbizon Plaza, and we spent almost four hours together.
Meštrović looked refreshed,
invigorated, and more jovial than usual. He told me that two weeks ago, on the
Feast of the Assumption, August 15, which was also his 76th birthday, he
attended mass in the small Church of the Holy Cross in his former estate,
beneath the rugged hills on the shore of the blue Adriatic. This is the church
filled with Meštrović's wood panels depicting the life of Christ and with
his crucifix above the altar. He said that the priest sang the mass in the Old
Croatian language, and that the people prayed as devoutly as they had over the
centuries. This was one of the most pleasant memories he brought back.
He told that he had found Cardinal
Stepinac in good shape physically and mentally; there were no visible signs of
his complicated blood disease, and despite the fact that the Cardinal was
isolated by the police from the outside world, it seemed that he was relatively
well informed.
Tito, he said, was an extremely
capable political leader. During the week the sculptor stayed at Brioni, they
met and talked on several occasions. Their last meeting was the most interesting.
Though Meštrović had more than sufficient proof of my discretion, he
nevertheless asked me especially to reveal to no one what he was going to tell
me. Referring to the last meeting with Tito, he said that they both were on the
terrace with no one else around. At a certain moment Tito went and closed the
door to the room and with tears in his eyes told him: "Believe me, I am
not less a Croat than you", and he embraced the sculptor.
I told Meštrović that this
seemed incredible. Tito painstakingly and systematically avoided any reference
to his nationality; he was particularly cautious that no one would identify him
even indirectly as a Croatian, or infer that from the fact that he was born in
Croatia. "Meštar, are you sure that he was sincere, that he was not
acting?" I asked him. Meštrović assured me that Tito was sincere.
"It was his spontaneous and emotional reaction. I don't believe he was
pretending, and why should he do so?"
"To leave a good impression
on you. He was aware that you consider him an extraordinary able politician, in
which I agree with you, but you had reservations toward him as a man and toward
his character, as well as for his role in Serbo-Croatian relations". I
told him that it was in Tito's interest to remove those reservations that
Meštrović had, being well aware of the enormous prestige the sculptor had
throughout the world and in Croatia. "To Tito it would be more important
for you to acknowledge his patriotism and noble motives in the kind of partly
tragic role in which he attempted to portray himself to you, than for you to
compliment his masterful tactics in politics. To him it would be more important
to get such recognition from a man of your prestige and reputation than from
all the communists of Yugoslavia together".
"No, no, why should I be
important", Meštrović said, "and what would Tito have gotten
from that? I believe that he did not have in mind any special motive. He talked
very emotionally".
In his talks with Tito,
Meštrović raised the question of the massacre of the Croatian Army
(domobrans and ustashas) and the civilians who were returned from Austria by
the British after the end of World War II in May 1945. Tito answered that
nothing could have been done to prevent the Serbs from venting their rage.
Meštrović pointed to some
political problems in Bosnia and particularly mentioned to Tito the need for a
Bosnian railroad connection with the harbor of Split. The problem of new
railroad construction had at the time enormous political and economic
importance. The Serbian centralists were urging and finally prevailed in
constructing a "pan-Serbian" railroad from Belgrade to Bar, which
turned out to be one of the most expensive ever built in Europe. These railroad
projects were then being much discussed by experts in Yugoslavia. In America,
Pavle D. Ostović,[44]
Meštrović's friend, was one who -urged the connection of Split to Sarajevo
and further into Serbia as the most economical and most favorable for all
concerned, Serbs included. Ostović had urged Meštrović to raise this
question if he had an opportunity. Tito answered Meštrović that there were
some difficulties, but that he was certain the railroad from Bosnia to Split
would be built.
Meštrović told me that he had
said to Tito that it was a wise idea to have made his residence at Brioni. This
stressed the point that no one else had anything to seek on the eastern coast
of the Adriatic except the people who were living there.
Among the interesting items Tito
told the sculptor was that among all war criminals, Stalin was by far the
greatest, as he had literally murdered millions of people.
Meštrović told me that in his
talks with Tito he did not touch upon the question of Stepinac.
Tito again invited Meštrović
to return to Yugoslavia. The sculptor answered that he was now an American
citizen. Tito replied that this did not present any problem, and that
Meštrović could keep his American citizenship if he preferred.
Talking about his impressions from
Split, the sculptor regretted that he did not meet the bishop Frane Franić,
who was out of town, but he was deeply moved when the pastor of the Split
Cathedral in Peristil took him in hand at the entrance, and they walked through
the church full of people to celebrate the Te Deum, a solemn
thanks-giving liturgy. He was very satisfied with the way his home was being
turned into a museum, and he had the highest praise for the expertise of Cvito
Fisković, the director of the Archaeological Museum in Split, who was in
charge of the Meštrović Museum.
Meštrović did not plan to go to
Montenegro to see the progress of the work on the location of his monument to
Njegoš, as he wanted to limit his visit to Croatia only. However, a group of
Montenegrins visited the sculptor in Split to greet him and discuss some
details. The Njegoš monument, a three times life size plaster figure, was sent
from the United States to Split. Andrija Krstulović, a stone mason and a
former pupil of Meštrović, executed it in granite in 1958. The Yugoslav
press, as it started to write more about Meštrović after his visit to
Tito, made a lot of fuss about the Njegoš monument. It seemed as if
Meštrović had returned especially to see the completion of the monument.
The sculptor told me that he considered the Njegoš Mausoleum neither his best
nor his most important work.
Meštrović remarked that he
found the Croatian Communist leaders in the southern parts of Croatia along the
Adriatic coast, such as Eduard Jardas, mayor of the City of Rijeka, and Vicko
Krstulović of Split, a member of the Central Committee and many government
bodies, to be much more alert and determined to look after Croatian national
interests than those in Zagreb in similar or higher positions.
The evening of February 10, 1960,
the day Cardinal Stepinac died, I talked on the phone with Meštrović. He
had been in his studio in South Bend when he heard the news. It had been
exactly six months to the day since he had seen the cardinal in Krašić,
and the last thing he had expected was for Stepinac to die so soon.
Meštrović was deeply moved. He was going to send telegrams to Franjo
Šeper, Archbishop of Zagreb, and to Josip Vraneković, the pastor in
Krašić. He would mail me copies of the telegrams so that I could forward
them to Croatian emigré papers as I might see fit. As I was at that time
president of the Croatian Academy of America, I told him that the Academy would
send a telegram to Šeper.
Two weeks after Stepinac's death I
received through some friends a message from a person close to the Archdiocese
of Zagreb expressing a wish that Meštrović make a tombstone monument for
Stepinac, who had been buried in the Zagreb Cathedral. I was asked to forward
the message to the sculptor. I did so by my letter of February 29, in which I
also included a clipping from the Catholic weekly The Tablet, with a report on
the contents of a recent letter of Stepinac to the District Court of Osijek. In
that letter Stepinac answered the summons to testify in a trial against the
priest Ciril Kos and in two instances mentioned Meštrović.[45]
A week later, on March 6, I wrote
again to Meštrović and attached a letter received from Zagreb. The letter
had been received by the same person, but it was addressed to no one and was
not signed. It was accompanied by a brief note dated February 24, 1960.
However, there was no doubt about the identity of the sender, and it was clear
that he would not have sent it without the approval of the hierarchy of the
Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb. The letter made a reference to the last meeting
of the sculptor and the cardinal in Krašić, offered some suggestions about
the monument, and provided some technical details. It also listed the following
attachments: 1) The cardinal's death mask; 2) several photographs; 3) the layout,
with measurements of the place for the sarcophagus and for the planned
monument; and 4) the cardinal's coat-of-arms with his device "In Te,
Domine, speravi". These attachments were not included. However, my friends
received a private letter confirming the earlier messages and adding that this
matter had been discussed with Archbishop Šeper and that a consensus had been
reached regarding the monument for the Zagreb Cathedral.[46]
Meštrović answered my letters
by his letter of March 20, in which he said that so far he had not received the
attachments mentioned in the letter from Zagreb, as apparently I had not
either. "The idea to erect a monument to Cardinal Stepinac in the Zagreb
Cathedral is absolutely appropriate, and that Šeper could not make a move for
it is understandable, considering the situation in which the Church and the
clergy live. He could not address me directly after I sent him the telegram on
the occasion of Stepinac's death expressing my hopes that the Croatian clergy
would follow Stepinac's example". Meštrović continued that despite
his having a lot of work, he was ready to make a monument to Stepinac in the
Zagreb Cathedral which would "match his modesty and resoluteness in both
religious and national spirit and position." He would make a model in
plaster without charge. The cost of casting it in bronze and transporting it to
Zagreb should be — as the message from Zagreb had suggested — at the expense of
American Croatians. This should be done discreetly, in the form of a
spontaneous idea of American Croatians, and not of a particular group or
circle. "I believe that in this case it would be inappropriate to give to
it a propagandistic form, because the act alone would speak for itself. In that
way, after all, a possible conflict with the government would be avoided,
though they would understand quite well the significance of the entire
event". He said that he would be coming to New York the next month, and
then we could discuss it all.[47]
I wrote to Meštrović again on
March 20 and 23 informing him that I had received a copy of a detailed report
on Stepinac's last days in Krašić written by the priest Vraneković;
that the photographs and other materials related to the planned monument to
Stepinac still had not arrived, but that I expected to receive them soon. I
wrote him also about some other matters, mentioning that we had just mailed him
the first issue of the Croatian Academy's Journal of Croatian Studies,
in which there was published an excerpt from the dissertation of his son
Matthew. I also mentioned that in the next issue of the Journal we would like
to publish an English translation of some excerpts or a chapter from his
memoirs, which he was planning to publish in Buenos Aires.
As Meštrović had announced, he arrived in New York with his wife, and we met on April 16, the Saturday before Easter, at the apartment of his son Matthew. With the Meštrovićs, father and son and their wives, I spent all afternoon there. The discussion centered on the last days of Stepinac, the situation of the Catholic Church in Croatia, and Croatian national affairs in general. Meštrović talked again about some impressions and experiences from his last year's visit to his homeland, adding always new details. We discussed the problem of finding suitable people to form a Committee of American Croatian Catholics for the Cardinal Stepinac monument for the Zagreb Cathedral. The promised material from Zagreb still had not arrived. For the present we were going to keep the planned project secret.
In a lighter vein we talked about
Meštrović's plans to spend his summer vacation on the Spanish island of
Mallorca, which I knew well. Following our conversation I wrote to a prominent
family in the island for suggestions to make Meštrović s stay there more
pleasant.
On May 3 I forwarded to
Meštrović several photographs of Stepinac, including his death mask and
other materials received from Zagreb.
Meštrović replied to my
letter on June 4. Regarding the Stepinac photographs he said: "The one
with the children is an engaging one and could serve for some occasion. Not
really for the monument in the Cathedral, I would think, but perhaps for the
little church in Krašić; better, one might say, for the courtyard between
the church and the parish house. I don't need the mask, because a death-mask
cannot serve for the form of a living man. After all, I know his figure by
heart as I have already done it three times, and there would not be any
difficulty making it for the Zagreb Cathedral. Therefore, there is no question
about that, but rather how to find the means to convert the model into a
permanent material, how to arrange transport to the homeland, and what approach
to use to avoid conflict with the authorities so they would not ban the
importation and erecting of the monument. As I wrote you, I don't believe they
would unless a provocative and agitational manner is used. They would
understand that both things are implied by the creation of this monument, but I
believe that they would forgo any idea of obstructing it".
* * *
Meštrović was not willing to
travel by airplane, and his physicians advised him not to travel to Europe by
ship, as this would be too tiresome for him. So instead of going to Mallorca,
he and his wife went to the Bahamas, where they stayed two or three weeks. I
saw him in New York before and after the trip. He did not enjoy the vacation in
such a hot, humid climate, and he seemed more tired when he returned. On the
day we met, during and after our dinner, he talked about some of his memories
from his childhood and youth.
The next month, August 1960,
President Eisenhower sent him a telegram on his 77th birthday, and members of
the Croatian Board of Trade from Detroit organized a large birthday party in
South Bend. As they toured Meštrović's studio, they saw a plaster model of
"Stepinac Meeting Christ". This was the model of the monument
intended for Stepinac's tomb in the Zagreb Cathedral. Meštrović explained
to the group all the problems which remained in the way of realizing the
project and transporting the monument to Zagreb.
In October Meštrović suffered
a stroke that left him partly paralyzed and affected his vision. There were
still so many things he wanted to finish. In Buenos Aires his book of memoirs Uspomene
na političke ljude i dogodjaje[48]
was about to come off the presses. In a brief period of time he made an almost
miraculous though incomplete recovery. It was a difficult year for him, and
then came the news in the fall of 1961 that his son Tvrtko had taken his own
life in Zagreb. It was as if a lightning bolt had struck an old oak tree. This
tragic event — in his own words — presaged the sculptor's death, which came on
a winter day in January 1962.
His body was returned to his
native soil to rest in the mausoleum in Otavice, which he had built.
Meštrović's monument to Stepinac found its way to the Zagreb Cathedral
five years after the sculptor's death, following a long political and
diplomatic struggle. The Croatian Board of Trade from Detroit had commissioned
Josip Turkalj, one of Meštrovićs students from Notre Dame, to execute the
statue in marble. Only after persistent efforts of the Croatian Board of Trade
over several years, and a year after the dismissal of the head of the Yugoslav
Police Alexander Ranković, during a somewhat more liberalized period in
Croatia, was the monument to Stepinac shipped from Detroit to Zagreb in August
1967.[49]
* * *
Meštrović as I knew him
during the last period of his life was at the same time a simple unassuming man
and a complex personality with varied interests. He shared these interests, as
always, with people of several generations, varied social levels, and different
nationalities. As his principal interest was centered on Croatian affairs, he
did not bother to cultivate other social contacts more than was necessary. It
is characteristic that the book he wrote and published shortly before his death
was not a book on the arts, but his Memoirs on Political Men and Events. This
was the main subject of all conversations and communications I had with him. While
he often spoke about the past, he was equally eager to know what was going on
currently, to learn about new developments in Croatia, in Yugoslavia, and among
Croatian exiles abroad. This was not just to satisfy his curiosity, but for the
practical purpose of determining what action he could take under the
circumstances presented to him. While it was relatively easy for him to shape
his sculptures using his mental power and physical strength, it was not that
easy to influence events in his homeland thousands of miles away and being
physically separated from his countrymen. His voluntary exile and the enormous
personal sacrifice this meant for him, was one of the few means at his disposal
to demonstrate where and for what he stood.
Meštrović was never inclined
to talk about his art, leaving it rather to his sculptures to speak for
themselves and convey his mes-sages. These messages clearly signaled what were
his major preoccupations at the time. As he grew older they centered more and
more on "the great teachings of the Sermon on the Mount", as he put
it, and the themes and figures of Croatian national history.
Besides his absorption in the
themes of the "Life of Christ" which he had been carving in wood —
the series is one of the highest achievements of his art—he had been collecting
his reminiscences and conducting "Imaginary Conversations with
Michelangelo", some of which he published in Croatian in Hrvatska revija
(Buenos Aires). In a way this was a part of Meštrović's continuing conversation
with the greatest artist of the Italian Renaissance which had begun with his
essay on Michelangelo published in 1926. The essay includes what may be
construed as a statement of Meštrović's own articles of faith where the
arts are concerned: "One must be in love with eternity before one can
produce a work that is even a shadow of that eternity. Immortality is confined
within us as in a prison. We must bring it into the light and bring it into
harmony with what is immortal around us and above us. That is inspiration, the
Muse, revelation".
As Meštrović was kept busy by
teaching and working in his studio, by transferring the themes from the New
Testament and from Croatian history into wood and plaster, by conducting for
solace his imaginary conversations on the arts, and in company with others
conducting real conversations and correspondence, chiefly on Croatian affairs,
and taking care of his family — all these things presented the tight circle of
a world of his own. That world did not have very much in common with the world
by which he was surrounded. To find a mode for coexistence within the two
worlds was his formula for survival, though this coexistence was not always
easy for him. However he accepted it stoically, almost fatalistically, and
never complained.
The contrast of these two worlds
was sublimely expressed by Richard M. Elman, a former Syracuse University
student, in an article published in The Commonweal [50]
on the occasion of Meštrović's death.
"I was a student then, and as
guilty as the others of ignorance and callousness toward Meštrović.
Moreover, I am convinced now that he encouraged the superficiality of our
attentions, finding privacy in its falseness, and knowing that it required less
of him than if he had had to give of his true self to the University community.
If he had once been a celebrated charismatic figure, he now seemed to favour
obscurity. He was usually uncommunicative, even somewhat sullen-looking. While
we chattered about the Korean war, Elizabeth Taylor, Faulkner, McCarthy, and
Meštrović, all in the same sentences, he carved stone and wooden images of
such immense proportions they could barely be contained in the little shabby
barn in the back yard of an exclusive sorority house."
"Once I had the good fortune
to sit next to him at a campus meeting of so-called young intellectuals where
he had consented to be the honored guest and to talk with the students about
Art."
Elman went on to describe a brief
incident when the student chairman asked Meštrović if he had always wanted
to be a sculptor, even as a little boy. Meštrović muttered an inaudible
reply. Then the chaplain took it upon himself to explain Meštrović's
remarks, delivering a lengthy lecture on Christian art.
"I recall the look of
incredulous disgust which the sculptor exhibited then, and how sorry I was to
have been a party to such a sham. For if the chairman's question had seemed
impertinent or moronic, what followed it was an insult to that gentle stone
cutter from Croatia who had grasped his craft through his peasant father. As my
young classmates discussed their vocational and emotional problems with the
artist, I was aware that there was a good deal of the peasant's simplicity and
strength still lurking in the man; and I was also aware after viewing the
heroic scale of the figures on which he had worked that Meštrović's
simplicity and his lack of cant had more bite than the sophistication of the
intellects against whom he was pitted. It troubled me to have to stare back at
his large dark eyes, acknowledging that we could not understand the terms of
his beliefs because we had grown so far away from them".
I well remember the occasion when
in a New York restaurant, after other subjects were exhausted, Meštrović
recalled his days as a shephered boy on the slopes of Svilaja Mountain at the
turn of the century and recited verses from the epic poems of the 18th century
Croatian friar Andrija Kačić Miošić, to whom I referred earlier
in this article. The waiter, who thought that the bearded sculptor was a rabbi,
perhaps speculated that he was reciting some prayers. As I listened to him and
recalled how these verses had been recited for two centuries in villages along
the Adriatic coast and its hinterland, I thought how unreal, strange, and
incomprehensible all this would sound to the people around us if they knew what
it was he was saying. It was very apparent how much he enjoyed recalling his
youthful experiences and repeating the words which had stuck in his memory from
that time. I shared his joy.
As Meštrović had his
imaginary conversations with Michelangelo on the arts, he had them with
Kačić as well, though on a different subject, in a poem he wrote on
the occasion of Kačić 250th birthday. In that poem, published
elsewhere in this issue of the Journal, Meštrović through Kačić
discusses the problems and aspirations of the Croatian people. He also wrote an
introduction to the American edition of Kačjć's book.[51]
As Kačić used to call himself "Old Man Milovan,"
Meštrović in concluding his introduction addressed him in this way:
"Naš put je, Starče, dugačak kao onaj od prvog do šestog dana, kad se Gospodu htjede stvorllti čovjeka. Mrak na ovom putu smo najbolje mi osjetili i stramputice uočili, ali nam Bog vid sačuva za nadolazeći dan."
"Our journey, Old Man, is a
long one, as from the first to the sixth day when the Lord decided to create
man. We best perceived the darkness on this road, and we noted the ways leading
us astray, but God preserved to us the sense of sight for the day to come".
[1] Croatia Press is a Croatian-language news
service and bulletin which I started to publish in Rome in 1947 and continued
in Madrid from 1948 through 1951. Since 1952 it has been published in the
United States, initially in English and Croatian, and ultimately in English
only.
[2] Meštrović left Croatia in 1942. He lived in
Rome in 1943 and in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 1943 to 1946. He returned to
Rome in 1946, where he completed his monumental Pietŕ in marble. At the
suggestion of Malvina Hoffman (1887-1966), a well known American sculptor,
Syracuse University offered Meštrović in 1946 a position as sculptor in
residence, which he accepted. Malvina Hoffman, a pupil of August Rodin, was an
old friend of Meštrović from the time she met him in Paris during World
War I.
[3] Professor Pavao Tijan. who since, 1946 has lived in
Madrid, was a member of the editorial board of Hrvatska enciklopedija
(The Croatian Encyclopedia) published in Zagreb from 1941 to 1945.
Meštrović was advisor to the board for contributions on the arts. (Five
volumes, covering A to Elektrika, of the planned 12-volume encyclopedia were
published. Tito's regime burned almost all the copies of the undistributed
fifth volume. Leksikografski Zavod, established 1950 in Zagreb, used
most of the resources of the former Hrvatska enciklopedija when it began to
publish its Enciklopedija Jugoslavije in 1955.) Tijan later became the
director and editor of the Enciclopedia de la Cultura Espańola, which he
initiated and which was published in five volumes from 1962 to 1968.
[4] Important source material for Meštrović s views
on men and events relating to Croatian political and cultural affairs as well
as on Meštrović's family life is contained in the letters he wrote since
his arrival in the United States to the Croatian journalist and writer Bogdan
Radica [Raditsa]. Radica, a former press attache of the Yugoslav embassy in
Washington, had joined Tito's government, worked for a short period of time in
the Ministry of Information in Belgrade, them left Yugoslavia in 1945,
denouncing Tito's regime in articles which gained wide publicity in the
American press, including Reader's Digest. Meštrović's letters to Radica
were published under the title "Pisma Ivana Meštrovića Bogdanu Radici
(1946-1961)", Hrvatska revija (Munchen-Barcelona), XXXIII, no. 2
(June 1983), pp 193-234, and XXXIII, no. 3 (Sept. 1983), pp. 457-92. A total of
81 of Meštrović's letters and some supplementary communications were
published.
[5] Jo Davidson (1883-1952) was a noted American
portrait sculptor. He was a follower of Henry A. Wallace's Progressive Party
and an admirer of Tito.
[6] Davidson's statement and Meštrović's reply were
published in the New York Times of Oct. 29, 1949. See also Croatia Press, III,
no. 47 (Nov. 8, 1949).
[7] Karlo
Mirth, "Susret s Meštrovićem", Hrvatska revija (Buenos
Aires), Ili, no. 3 (11) (Sept. 1953), pp. 332-37.
[8] Meštrović o Djilasovom slučaju", Croatia
Press, VIII, no. 134 (Feb. 1954), pp. 13-17. While the interview deals
primarily with Djilas' "heresy", it contains Meštrović s views
on other topics related to relations between Croatians and Serbians.
[9] Ivan Meštrović, "Stepinac — duhovni
heroj", Hrvatska revija (Buenos Aires), VI, no. 3 (23) (Sept.
1956), p. 193.
[10] Karlo Mirth, "Iz
uspomena na Meštrović", Hrvatska revija (Buenos Aires), XII,
no. 4 (48) (Dec. 1962), pp. 445-68.
[11] New York Times, Apr. 30, 1953. See also Croatia
Press, VII, no. 118 (May 1953).
[12] "Interview sa Ivanom Meštrovićem prigodom
njegove 70-godišnjice," Croatia Press, VII, no. 123-124 (Aug.
1953), pp. 10-18; "Ivan Meštrović govori ...", Hrvatska
revija (Buenos Aires), III, no. 3 (11) (Sept. 1953), pp. 327-32.
[13] Meštrović's special interest and concern for
Moslems is reflected in his letters to Dragutin (Charles) Kamber (1901-1 69)
Kamber, pastor of thr Catholic Parrish Church of Our Lady of Croatia in
Toronto, was working on an informative book on Islam for Croatian Catholics,
and Meštrović encouraged him in that project. See Kamber's article
"Meštrovićeva briga za Muslimane, Prilog boljem poznavanju jednog
hrvatskog gorostasa", Hrvatska revija (Buenos Aires), XII, no 4
(48) (Dec. 1962), pp. 435-44. Kariber's article indudes several letters
Meštrovič wrote to him between 1954 and 195b. This is important source
material.
[14] "Meštrovićevo pismo Srbobranu," Croatia
Press, VII, no. 121-122 (July 1953), pp. 19-21; reprinted in Hrvatska
revija (Buenos Aires), III, no. 3 (Sept. 1953), pp. 337-38.
[15] "Pomoz Bože jadnijem Srbima ... ", from a
verse of Petar Petrović Njegoš.
[16] "Message of Ivaln Meštrović, Christian
Culture Winner 1954," Croatia Press, VIII, no. 137 (May 1954), pp.
3-7. The text of Meštrović's acceptance speech is also reprinted elsewhere
in this issue of the Journal of Croatian Studies. [Vol. XXIV, 1983, pp.
23-26].
[17] Croatia Press, VIII, nb 143 (Nov. 1954), pp.
1-2 (English section) and pp. 6-8 (Croatian section).
[18] "An Interview with Meštrović, Croatia
Press, VIII, no. 143 (Nov. 1954), pp. 2-5.
[19] "The Yugoslav Communists Have Finally Allowed
the Consecration of the Meštrović Chapel in Split", Croatia Press,
IX, no. 148 (Apr. 1955). pp. 1-3.
[20]
"Professor Meštrović Awarded Doctorates at Notre Dame and Marquette
Universities", Croatia Press, IX, no. 150 (June 1955), pp. 11-12.
The Notre Dame citation said that
Meštrović is "a world-renowned sculptor of religious subjects as well
as a modern patriot whose sculptures have often portrayed the aspirations and
traditions of the people of his native Croatia ... " The citation also
welcomed him to the Faculty of Notre Dame and said: "In his many sculptures
of Christ, His Mother, and the Saints, he incarnates the convection that faith
is the transfigurative element of art, 'its inner fire without which sooner or
later it fades and dies': and he reveals that his own art, in all its wisdom,
talent, and technique, has powerfully discovered the life-giving and creative
Word."
The following is the text of the
Marquette University citation:
"Ivan Meštrović, a patriot, whose genius expressed with epic power the indomitable spirit of his beloved Croatia. 'The greatest phenomenon among the sculptors' said the immortal Rodin. The tyrant could not conquer him whom the freedom of American citizenship won for us. His strong impulse towards God, called forth from his remarkably prolific genius, creations of power, deep reverence, and standing originality. The timelessness, vitality, and monumental dignity of his work have justly won for him the acclaim of being. one of the greatest religious sculptors of all time. Because he reflects the essence of the classical spirit with striking clarity, remarkable splendor and astonishing variety of design, he has merited the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa."
[21] See also "Meštrović Sculptures and Drawings
on Exhibit," Croatia Press, IX, no. 146 (Feb. 1955), p. 5.
[22] "Amerika daje nova
najviša priznanja Meštrović", Croatia Press, X, no. 160 (June
1956), pp. 24-26.
[23] The
following is the text of the citation read by Dr. John A. Krout, vice president
and provost of Columbia University:
"Ivan Meštrović is presented for the degree of Doctor of Letters. A hamlet in the valley of Dalmatia was his childhood home. The soaring peaks of the Dinaric Alps belonged to him as they seemed to stir the unfoldiing genius of a shephered boy tending his flocks. His father, a gifted native craftsman, guided his son's early efforts. The boy fashioned his. first crucifix for his humble parish church. A visitor glimpsed God-given gifts and there began the artistic odyssey—to Paris, Vienna, Rome and Zagreb—which brought him high honor while still a youth. His is work which shall be timeless, for it is the expression of human feeling wrought in marble, and granite, and wood. Here is the complete master of plastic endeavor, achieving his mood with equal facility in any medium. America is now his home, and sister universities, first Syracuse, now Notre Dame, have claimed him. Columbia has the privilege today, Mr. President, of honoring him for his contribution to an art at once noble and vehement, an art universal in its appeal."
Dr. Grayson Kirk,
president of Columbia University, in conferring the degree said: "In one
of the most heroic forms of man's artistic expression, you have uplifted us. You
have expressed in enduring stone and wood imperishable thoughts which will
inspire generations of the future as they inspire us now. Columbia'proudly will
inspire generations of the future as they inspire us now. Columbia proudly
welcomes you to its roll of distinguished honorary alumni." — "Text
of Degree Citations at Columbia," New York Times, June 6, 1956, p.
28.
[24] "Ivan Meštrović o odnosiima Hrvatske i
Srbije," Zajedničar (Pittsburgh), Aug. 21, 1957, p. 3.
[25] The Florida Catholic, XIX, no. 24 (Apr. 18,
1958). Reports and several pictures. See also Croatia Press, XII, no 184
(Apr. 1958), pp. 14-15.
[26] Svetozar
Ritig [Rittig] (1873-1961), churchman, historian and politician, was pastor of
the Church of St. Mark in Zagreb. He is the author of studies on church
history, particularly on the usage of Old Church Slavonic in the Catholic
Church liturgy in Croatia. Ritig joined Tito 's partisans in 1943, and after
the war was a member of the Yugoslav Constitutional Assembly and was Minister
Without Portfolio in the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia
(1946-1954). He was one of a few Croatian Catholic priests who closely
collaborated with the Yugoslav Communist Party at a time when the Party carried
out the most oppressive measures against the Catholic Church in Croatia.
Ritig's role was fully exploited by the Party in extolling a few
collaborationist clergymen as "patriots", in contrast to the vast
majority of others labeled as "class enemies" or even
"traitors". This line was useful in the Party's efforts to impress
public opinion abroad, but had quite a contrary effect in Croatia, where the
majority of the population is Catholic and viewed Ritig with scorn and
contempt.
Ritig was a long-time
friend of Meštrović from the period between the two World Wars, and he
wrote to the sculptor in America numerous letters urging him to return to
Yugoslavia. By condemning the Yugoslav government's policies toward the
Catholic Church in Croatia publicly and privately, Meštrović made it dear
that his position was opposite to that of his old friend.
[27] Milan Ćurčin (1880-1960) was a Serbian
poet and publicist and the editor of Nova Evropa (Zagreb, 1920-1941).
Ćurčin's close relationship and friendship with Meštrović dates
back to World War I, when they were both members of the Yugoslav Committee in
London. Ćurčin is the author of the English-language study Ivan
Meštrović, a Monograph, published in London in 1919. After the war
Ćurčin settled in Zagreb and edited Nova Evropa.
Meštrović s backing of Nova Evropa included material support for the
periodical. Ćurčin also edited a second monograph on Meštrović,
published by Nova Evropa in 1933 in four languages. Meštrović's
essay on Michelangelo was published in Nova Evropa in November 1926.
Meštrović used to call Ćurčin by the familiar form of
"Ćurčija."
[28] "Meštrović Visited Stepinac", Croatia
Press, XIII, no 198 (June 1959 with a note that the editing was completed
on July 30}), pp. 2-3. Also, in Croatian: "Meštrović posjetio
kardinala Stepinca", Ibid., pp. 13-15.
[29] Among them The Florida Catholic, Volksbote
(Munchen), and El Diario Illustrado (Santiago de Chile).
[30]
"Return to Yugoslavia," America, September 5, 1959, p. 664.
The editorial said that
Meštrović, "the greatest living sculptor, possibly the greatest since
Michelangelo" has not concealed his sympathy for Tito's victim Cardinal
Stepinac. "When, in early July, after 16 years of voluntary exile, the
artist returned home for a brief stay, he reserved his first important visit
for the distinguished prelate now under house arrest in the small village of
Krasic. The whole country, according to Croatia Press, soon buzzed with the
news.
"The press has
been discreet about the details of Meštrović's return to Yugoslavia. The
artist, now an American citizen will return to his sculpture courses at Notre
Dame University at the end of summer. His visa was granted him by the Tito
regime in hopes that his visit would serve to bolster its own prestige. The
trip seemes to have served rather to highlight the central position Cardinal Stepinac
still holds in the minds and hearts of Croatian Catholics at home and abroad.
To that extent the visit has been a boon to the Yugoslav faithful".
[31] The text
of the New York Times letter of August 25, 1959, to K. Mirth, signed by
Nathaniel M. Gerstenzang:
Thank you for your letter of
August 21, and for the enclosure of Croatia Press, No. 198. We were
grateful to you for sending it to us.
Regarding your comment about Mr.
Underwood's dispatch from Zagreb that was published on August 19, it would
appear important to note that he reported that "the older generations
remember the hardships of earlier years and tend to accept the Government's
views, etc., concerning curbs on consumption. Mr. Underwood did not make a
positive statement in this regard, but undoubtedly was reporting about what he
has found to be true, i.e., that they tend to accept, etc. There is quite a
difference.
The reporting in Mr. Underwood's
dispatch concerning detail of the Zagreb demonstrations in May would certainly
indicate that there is opposition to certain results of life under the present
regime.
As for the meeting between Ivan
Meštrović and Cardinal Stepanic [sic], that indeed went unnoticed,
and we are grateful to you for bringing it to our attention. There does not
seem to be much in your report on the meeting beyond the fact that the two men
had met, but we intend to try to follow this up In the hope of finding out some
of the things that might have been discussed.
We will send the information to
Mr. Underwood so that he can look into the matter on his return to Yugoslavia,
and we will suggest to him that he should attempt to visit Cardinal Stepanic
himself. Since M. Meštrović will be returning to this country shortly
perhaps we will be able to contact him after his return.
Again, we thank you
very much for bringing these matters to our attention.
[32]
VećesIav Holjevac (1917-1970), one of the leading Croatian Communists, was
organizer and commander of partisan units in Croatia between 1941 and 1945.
After the war with the rank of lieutenant general he was commander of the
Zagreb Military District, military commander of Istria, and head of the
Yugoslav military mission in Berlin. He had a number of other high positions in
government and was mayor of the city of Zagreb from 1952 to 1963. When he
became president of Matica Iseljenika Hrvatske, an organization set up to
cultivate relations with Croatians abroad, he advocated a revisionist pragmatic
approach, considering the sharp ideological differences of the past outdated.
For that he brought upon himself the wrath of the Party dogmatists and Yugoslav
centralists. He is author of the book Hrvati izvan domovine [Croatians Outside
Their Homeland], which I reviewed in the Journal of Croatian Studies,
VII-VIII (1966-67), pp. 171-76. Holjevac was a supporter of the liberal
Communist Croatian leaders Savka Dabćević-Kućar and Miko
Tripalo, who were forced to resign in December 1971.
[33] Frano
Kršinić (1897-1982), who is regarded as the second greatest Croatian
sculptor of the century after Meštrović, and who knew Meštrović
better and longer than most of Meštrović's contemporaries, recalled
Meštrović s last visit to Zagreb in 1959 in conversations he had with
Jakov Sedlar and Boris Grbin. Their talks with Kršinić should have been
published in a book by the Zagreb publishing house Globus in 1980, but its
publication was stopped by the authorities.
Excerpts from that unpublished book were published in the first issue of Likum ("O"-zero issue, Zagreb, Feb. 1983). Answering a question about Meštrović s visit to Zagreb in 1959, Kršinić said to the authors that one day Ms Magašić and Miloš Žanko, Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, told him that Meštrović was coming to Zagreb and asked him what they should do. Kršinić answered: "As he has donated [to the Croatian people] all of that [i.e, Meštrović's residences and sculptures] in Mletačka Street [Zagreb] and in Split, you should put everything at his disposition. He should be a guest of the City of Zagreb and have a car made available to him, as he definitely will want to see Stepinac". They said, "That's exactly what we don't want," and I told them: "Regardless of whether you want it or not, if necessary he will take the American ambassador and go there with him. You cannot prevent him from seeing Stepinac; he gave to Stepinac his last will to look after. You know, before the war Stepinac was somebody, and today he is nobody, but they are friends, and you can do nothing about it." Kršinić also said that Većeslav Holjevac, the mayor of the city of Zagreb, took Meštrović by car and showed him what had been built there. "They found themselves attuned on the Croatian national wavelength. Both Holjevac and Meštrović have told me that. I took him to the Academy to show him a new wing which had been added ... From Zagreb he went to Split. I asked him if he was going to see Njegoš on Lovćen [Meštrović's sculpture, which had been donated to Montenegro], but Meštar told me that this time he did not want to go outside of Croatia. He spent a few days with Mate Ujević [editor of both the discontinued Croatian Encyclopedia and later of the Yugoslav Encyclopedia, and old friend of Meštrović]. They drank and talked. He met Tito also".
After Likum's
"zero-issue", as far as can be determined, no other issue of the
periodical has appeared [Nova Hrvatska (London), XXV, no. 12 (312) (June
19, 1983), pp. 12-13].
[34] Croatia Press, XIII, nos. 6, 7-8, and 9 (198,
199-200, still 201), from June to Sept. 1959.
[35] Karlo Mirth, "Iz
uspomena na Meštrović", Hrvatska revija (Buenos Aires), XII,
no. 4(48) (Dec. 1962), pp. 445-68. Also
as an offprint.
[36] Ivan Meštrović,
"Stepinac — simbol hrvatske neslomljivosti", Hrvatska revija
(Buenos Aires), X, no. 1 (37) (Mar. 1960), pp. 22-25.
[37] Ante Smith Pavelić is a prominent Croatian-born
American. A former Yugoslav diplomat, Pavelić is known as an analyst of
South Slavic affairs. He usually signs his articles "Observer". Pavel
is also the author of the book Dr. Ante Trumbić — Problemi hrvatsko-srpskih
odnosa (Munchen: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1959). Meštrović wrote the
preface to the book.
[38] Zdenka Palić and J.K. [Jakša Kušan],
"Razgovor s prof. Ivanom Meštrovićem. 'Hrvati i Srbi — dva svijeta;
"Nova Hrvatska — "New Croatia" (London), 11, no. 8-9.
(Aug.-Sept. 1959), p. 5. The paper also published a picture of Meštrović
and the editor Jakša Kušan.
[39] Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).
[40] Emile-Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), French
sculptor.
[41] See Ante Smith Pavelić and Bogdan Radica,
"Zadnji Meštrovićev pohod Hrvatskoj", Hrvatska revija
(Buenos Aires), XII, no. 4 (48) (Dec. 1962), pp. 319-22.
[42] Ante Smith Pavelić and Bogdan Radica, Op. cit.
[43] "Sculptor Sees Stepinac and Finds Him
Cheerful", New York Times, Sept. 2, 1959.
[44] P. D.
Ostović, "Construction of New Railway Lines in Yugoslavia," Croatia
Press, IX, no. 5 (149) (May 1955), pp. 1-6.
Pavle D. Ostović (1894-1972) was a close friend of Meštrović from the time of World War I when both men were members of the Yugoslav Committee in London, Ostović being the Committee's secretary from 1916 to 1918. After the war Ostović, who was primarily engaged in business, lived in Zagreb. He was also active in public life and remained very close to Meštrović. Ostović was one of 37 signatories of the "Zagreb Memorandum" of 1935, protesting the lawlessness and censorship and asking for restoration of political freedoms and amnesty for political poisoners. Meštrović was one of the chief promoters of the memorandum and the third person to put his signature on it, the first two being Archbishop of Zagreb Ante Bauer and Archbishop Coadjutor Alojzije Stepinac. Among other signatories, many of them Meštrović's friends, were Svetozar Ritig and Milan Curćin.
Ostović, who was
a well known anglophile, was imprisoned by Tito's regime and sentenced to hard
labor (1945/46). Released from prison, he left the country and spent the rest
of his life in Canada, mostly in Montreal, except for about two years (1950/52)
when he stayed with Meštrović in Syracuse working on his book on the formation
of the first Yugoslavia, its downfall, and the formation of Tito's Yugoslavia.
Meštrović provided the author with a wealth of information, allowing him
to read the manuscript of his reminiscences and guiding the direction of his
work in several instances. The book contains a (number of documents relating to
the activities of the Yugoslav Committee in London during World War I, as
Meštrović was especially interested that such documentation be included.
Meštrović wrote an introduction to the book in which he praised the author
for his "deatohment and impartiality" in bringing out the truth, but
also pointed out that he differed with the author's conclusions. See P. D.
Ostović, The Truth About Yugoslavia, with an introduction by Ivan
Meštrović (New York: Roy Publishers, 1952, 300 pp.).
[45] See also "Last Letter of Cardinal Stepinac
Reveals Inhuman Treatment of the Final Days of his Life", Croatia Press,
XIV, no. 1-3 (205-207) (Jan.-Mar. 1960), pp. 12-15; "Meštrović
Interviewed About Stepinac's Letter", Ibid., pp. 15-16;
"Father Kos, Mentioned in Stepinac Letter, Sentenced to Seven Years in
Jail", Ibid., p. 17.
[46] I give a more detailed account of the messages
exchanged and other activities relating to Meštrović s monument to
Stepinac in the Zagreb Cathedral in my article in Croatian: Karlo Mirth,
"Meštrovićev spomenik kardinalu Stepinicu u zagrebačkoj
katedrali", Hrvatska revija (Munchen-Barcelona), XXXIII, no. 4
(132) (Dec. 1983), pp. 688-96.
[47] The concluding part of Meštrović s letter of March
20, with a reference to his visit to New York, was for some reason left out of
the published version of the letter in my article in Hrvatska revija, XXXIII,
no. 4 (132) (Dec. 1983), p. 690.
[48] Ivan Meštrović, Uspomene na političke
ljude i dogadjaje (Buenos Aires: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1961, 417 pp.).
The printing of the book was completed October 10, 1961. During a brief period
of liberalization in Croatia lasting from about 1968 to 1971, Meštrović s
book was published under the same title in Zagreb in 1969 by Matica Hrvatska.
However, to make the publication possible, the publisher made minor changes,
mostly by omitting references that the Yugoslav Communist censors might find
objectionable. Nevertheless, Matica Hrvatska found itself under fire, particularly
because of the "Guide to Important Names and Ideas" in
Meštrović's text. Borba, the organ of the League of Communists of
Yugoslavia (Zagreb), published on October 17, 1969, the article "Odgovorni
su urednik i članovi redakcije" [The Editor and the Members of the
Editorial Board Are Responsible} by I. Družijanić, in which he reported
that the Party organization for the city of Zagreb had voiced strong criticism
of those who had worked on the publication of Meštrović's memoirs. The Party
particularly denounced Miroslav Brand, professor at the University of Zagreb,
Vlatko Pavlerić, and Trpimir Macan, who were responsible for the editorial
work. According to the article, the members of the "basic
organization" of the League of Communists within the publishing house had
accepted the criticism as justified, and the director Pero Budak had stated
that a new guide to personal names and ideas referred to in Meštrović's
memoirs was about to be published. The warning was clear: There is danger in
reading Meštrović's memoirs without consulting the League of
Communists-approved guide to the persons mentioned in his book.
[49] For details see Karlo Mirth, "Meštrovićev
spomenik kardinalu Stepincu u zagrebačkoj katedrali". Hrvatska revija (Munchen-Barcelona),
XXXIII, no. 4 (132) (Dec. 1983), pp. 688-96. Op. cit.
[50] Richard M. Elmap. "For Ivan Meštrović,
1883-1962", The Commonweal, LXXV, no 20, (Feb. 9, 1962), pp.
506-07.
[51] Andrija Kačić Miošić Razgovor ugodni, Uvod napisano prof. Ivan Meštrović (Chicago: Stanislav Bork, 1954).