Sedimentary stone
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ivan-mestrovic-1625" aria-label="More by Ivan Meštrovic" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Ivan Meštrovic</a>
Girl with a Lute
Presented by Lord Duveen 1930
abstract concepts
actions: postures and motions
adults
fine arts and music
harmony - music
instrument, lute
leisure and pastimes
music
music and entertainment
objects
people
sitting
symbols and personifications
woman
<p>Mestrovic was a Croatian sculptor who lived and worked in Vienna and Paris. In 1911 he gained a major reputation at the Rome International Exhibition and in 1915 was given an exhibition at the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum, London. Following that event a Mestrovic Purchase Fund was set up to buy his works for public collections. This work was bought for the Tate Gallery in 1930 by Lord Duveen, who also provided the funds for the Duveen Sculpture Galleries here. Mestrovic made a number of sculptures of women playing musical instruments during the 1920s and 1930s. He said of them, 'They are an expression of my feelings and longing for harmony between us and the whole world'.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
sculpture sedimentary stone
28 January 2011 – 4 September 2011
2011-09-04
28 January 2011 – 4 September 2011
2011-09-04
2011-01-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-01-28
Single Form: the body in sculpture from Rodin to Hepworth
Collection based display
23 November 2023 – 3 March 2024
2024-03-03
23 November 2023 – 3 March 2024
2024-03-03
2023-11-23
Galerija Klovicevi Dvori (Zagreb, Croatia)
2023-11-23
Ivan Meštrović
Loan-out
Girl with a Lute
object: 945 × 815 × 280 mm
Presented by Lord Duveen 1930
<p>Mestrovic was a Croatian <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptor</span></a> who lived and  worked in Vienna and Paris. In 1911 he gained a  major reputation at the Rome International  Exhibition and in 1915 was given an exhibition at  the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum, London. Following  that event a Mestrovic Purchase Fund was set up to  buy his works for public collections. This work  was bought for the Tate Gallery in 1930 by Lord  Duveen, who also provided the funds for the Duveen  Sculpture Galleries here. Mestrovic made a number  of sculptures of women playing musical instruments  during the 1920s and 1930s. He said of them, 'They  are an expression of my feelings and longing for  harmony between us and the whole world'.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<div class="text1"><b>Ivan </b><b>Meštrović</b><span>
1883-1962</span>
<br/></div>
<div class="text1"><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mestrovic-girl-with-a-lute-n04551" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04551</span></a> </span><b>Girl with a Lute</b><span>
</span><i>c</i><span>.1927-8</span>
<br/></div>
<div class="text1"><span>Not inscribed </span>
<br/><span>Black marble on travertine base, 37 x 31 ¼ x 11 ½  (94 x 79.5 x 29) including base; height without base 34 (86.5) </span>
<br/><span>Presented by Lord Duveen 1930 </span>
<br/><i>Prov</i><span>: Lord Duveen, London (purchased from the artist 1930) </span>
<br/><i>Exh: Jugoslav Sculpture and Painting</i><span>, Tate Gallery, April-May 1930 (51); 37th Annual Exhibition, Society of Scottish Artists, Edinburgh, November 1930-January 1931 (376); </span><i>Jugoslav Paintings and Sculpture</i><span>, Manchester City Art Gallery, May-June 1931 (26); RSA, Edinburgh, April-July 1948 (6) </span>
<br/><i>Lit</i><span>: I. </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>
and Ernest H.R. Collings, </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>
(Zagreb 1933), n.p., note on pl.40 and repr. pl.40; Harry H. Hilberry and Norman L. Rice, </span><i>The Sculpture of Ivan </i><i>Meštrović</i><span>
(New York 1948), p.26, repr. pl.39 (dated 1927); Duško Ke</span><span>č</span><span>kemet, </span><i>Ivan </i><i>Meštrović</i><span>
(New York, London, Toronto, Sydney 1970), introduction n.p., and repr. between pp.123 and 124 as 'Girl with a Lute' 1927 Repr: Apollo, XI, 1930, p.441</span>
<br/></div>
<div class="text1"><span>First exhibited at the Tate in 1930 as 'Girl with a Guitar' but reproduced by Keckemet as 'Girl with a Lute', which seems to be correct. According to Vesna Barbi</span><span>ć</span><span>
(letter of 19 December 1977), the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> model for this work is in the Gliptoteka Jugoslavenske Akademije in Zagreb and a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>cast</span></a> was made in 1977 for the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>Sculpture</span></a> Garden, a small collection of the town of Osor, on the island of Osor (Yugoslavia). A further bronze was included in </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>'s exhibition in Zagreb in 1932 (23) as 'Girl singing, with Guitar', and was later exhibited from 1935-40 in the permanent exhibition of </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>'s works in his private gallery in Zagreb, Ilica 12. Its present whereabouts are unknown. The marble was reproduced in the catalogue of the </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>
exhibition at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris in 1933 (13) as 'Girl with a Guitar', marble 1928 (though it was not included in the exhibition), and there is a copy of this catalogue in the archives of the Atelier </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>
in which it is annotated by the artist with its place of origin 'Zagreb'.</span>
<br/></div>
<div class="text1"><span>Meštrović</span><span>
made a number of statues of women playing musical instruments in the 1920s and 1930s. Ke</span><span>č</span><span>kemet quotes him as saying: 'My newest things with musical and melodic motifs (1933) have grown out of a longing for general harmony. They are an expression of my feeling and longing for harmony between us and the whole world'.</span>
<br/></div>
<div class="text1"><b>Published in</b><span>: </span>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.512-3, reproduced p.512</span>
<br/></div>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstract concepts actions: postures and motions adults fine arts and music harmony - music instrument, lute leisure and pastimes music music and entertainment objects people sitting symbols and personifications woman