Eleanor
Milne decided to study with Ivan Mestrovic (1883–1962) at Syracuse
University after a friend advised her that the Croatian sculptor was similarly
concerned with issues of the spirit. He had
taught Malvina Hoffman among others and he had been admired by Auguste Rodin. An exile from Marshall Tito's Yugoslavia,
Mestrovic's American ciitzenship was granted to him in a 1954 White House
ceremony presided over by President Eisenhower. As a graduate student Milne
was able to work closely with this individual, thought by many to
be the foremost living architectural sculptor, as well as one
of the great religious artists of the twentieth century. He was and
is considered a great master by Milne, who got to know him well in the days
she sometimes served as his driver.
From Mestrovic, Milne received confirmation of the necessity for total dedication and learned that care should be taken not to compromise one's integrity as a person or an artist when one is engaged in public commissions. As an expressionist sculptor whose work borrowed freely but never directly from the art of medieval Europe, Mestrovic also served as a profoundly important stylistic reference point for Milne; an affiliation she would be the last to deny, and one that would stand her in great stead as Dominion Sculptor.
EXTERNAL LINKS:
Extensive website about Mestrovic with images of his work.
List of sculptures on the campus of Syracuse University. Go to #9 and #10 for Supplicant Persephone and Job pictured above and below on this page. Item #11 describes Moses, another Mestrovic work.