Who is Toma Rosandić?

Toma Rosandić (Serbian Cyrillic: Тома Росандић; baptized as Tomaso Vincenzo, 22 January 1878 – 1 March 1958) was a Serbian and Yugoslav sculptor, architect and Good arts pedagog. Together next Ivan Meštrović (1883–1962), he was the most prominent of Yugoslav sculptors of his day.

Rosandić was born in the Dalmatian city of Split, Austria-Hungary, the son of a stoneworker. The associates name, Rosandić originates from Cetinska Krajina, in the Dalmatian Hinterlands. During the to the fore years in Split, Rosandić learnt to carve in wood as with ease as stone and was much inspired by the younger Meštrović who had moved there from Otavice. Both sculptors studied overseas since returning to Split, Rosandić touring Italy and exhibiting in Milan in 1906 and Belgrade in 1912.

See also  Ambrose McCarthy Patterson: life and works

He exhibited his artworks as a share of Kingdom of Serbia’s pavilion at International Exhibition of Art of 1911.

Something of their parallel press forward and underlying rivalry can be understood from their respective projects to put in sculpture and architecture. Both build up a mausoleum, Rosandić for the Petrinović family (Supetar, on the island of Brač off Split) and Meštrović to the Račić family (Cavtat, south of Dubrovnik). Each exhibit the touch of Dalmatian history, but while Meštrović’s mausoleum is based on the principle of simplicity, Rosandić richly ornamented his building subsequent to a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance motifs to make public a more national character.

With the outbreak of World War I, Rosandić left for London where he exhibited at the Grafton Galleries in 1917 and highly developed in Brighton and Edinburgh. During World War II, Rosandić settled in Belgrade. He was interned by the German goings-on forces during the war, but was well ahead released through the outfit of Dragomir Jovanović. Rosandić later testified at the Belgrade Process.

Rosandić was a aficionado of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts before 1948. He founded a prominent college in Belgrade known as the “Master Workshop”. Amongst the many artists and public personalities that frequented the workshop was Henry Moore, during his exhibition in Belgrade in March 1955.

In his maturity, Rosandić executed two of his greatest masterpieces: the pair of rock statues of a man struggling when a horse, which flank the log on to the Federal Parliament building in Belgrade (today Parliament of Serbia), and a massive rock frieze of figures for a monument in Subotica, Vojvodina, Serbia (1952). Many of his bronze projects at this become old were cast in the Voždovac foundry and additional works by his hand can be found at the Toma Rosandić Memorial Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade.

See also  Who is Arthur Thrall?

Rosandić returned to Split since his death in 1958.

What do you think of the works of Toma Rosandić?

Use the form below to say your opinion about Toma Rosandić. All opinions are welcome!

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.