Meštrović, Ivan (15 August 1883–16 January 1962), sculptor and architect, was born in Vrpolje, Croatia, the son of Mate Meštrović, a poor migrant farmworker and stonemason, and Marte Kurabasa. Shortly after his birth the family returned to its home in Otavice, a Croatian village in the Dalmatian Alps. Meštrović never attended school, and he spent his early years as a shepherd and farmer. Immersed in the peasant folk traditions of his native area, he achieved a local reputation for carving religious figurines. At the age of fourteen Meštrović was taken to Split and apprenticed to a master mason. These experiences were the foundation for his later career as an accomplished carver who worked directly with his media. He attracted the attention of a Viennese mine owner who financed his move to Vienna in 1899. There Meštrović studied with Otto Koenig, a retired professor of sculpture, to pass the entrance examination at the Vienna Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied from 1900 until 1904....
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Meštrović, Ivan (1883-1962), sculptor and architect
Robert Wilson Torchia
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Willard, Solomon (1783-1861), sculptor, architect, inventor, and educator
Sylvia Leistyna Lahvis
Willard, Solomon (26 June 1783–27 February 1861), sculptor, architect, inventor, and educator, was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, the son of William Willard, a carpenter and joiner, and Katherine Wilder. After completing an apprenticeship with his father, Willard left for Boston in 1804 to find work as a carpenter. There he may have studied architectural drawing with ...