THE HISTORY OF THE ATELIER

After having completed his studies in Vienna and after having lived in Paris, Rome, Cannes, and London, Ivan Meštrović returned to his homeland in 1919 as an acclaimed and successful artist. In 1920, he bought three parcels with houses dating from the late 17th century. The property was situated at numbers 6, 8, and 10 Mletacka Street in the historic centre of the city of Zagreb - the Upper Town. Within the following few years, he undertook some additional building work on the houses and decorated the premises to be his home and working area. The architects Viktor Kovacic, Harold Bilinic, and Drago Ibler, and the builders Stjepan Ursic, Josip Zanko, and Josip Aljinovic helped him with his projects. The result was a representative construction, which became a home to Ivan Mestrovic, his second wife Olga, born Kestercanek, and their children Marta, Tvrtko, Marica, and Mate. They lived there until 1942, when Ivan Mestrovic left the country.

In 1952, a contract of donation was concluded between Ivan Mestrovic and the government of the People’s Republic of Croatia, which included the complex at 8 Mletacka Street in Zagreb (residential building, atrium, atelier, and yard) in Mestrovic’s legacy, thus making it legal property of the People’s Republic of Croatia. In order to convert the complex into an exhibition space with the permanent display of donated Mestrovic’s works (today called the Mestrovic Atelier), it was necessary to repair and adapt all parts of the complex and the sculptures needed to undergo the conservation programme. The Mestrovic Atelier, i.e. the permanent exhibition of Ivan Mestrovic’s works, was completely opened to the public in 1969. In 1966, the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Zagreb decided to protect the complex by the Law on Protection of Cultural Monuments on the account of its architectural and urbanistic value and its memorial significance. Between 1959 and 1961, the Mestrovic Atelier was under the jurisdiction of the Gradska galerija suvremene umjetnosti (the City Gallery of Contemporary Art), and then, between 1961 and 1991, it formed a part of the Galerije grada Zagreba (the City of Zagreb Galleries). In 1991, it became an integral part of the Ivan Mestrovic Foundation.

The initial holdings of the Mestrovic Atelier consisted of 147 works of art that the artist intended for display in Mletacka 8 and donated by the 1952 contract of donation and its amendment, made in 1959, when he visited Croatia. The holdings were systematically enlarged and today they comprise more than 300 inventoried works of art. A certain number of drawings and sculptures are registered as deposits, since they are legal property of Ivan Mestrovic’s heirs.