Bronze
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>
Sir Thomas Beecham Bt
Presented by Lady Cunard 1921
adults
arts and entertainment
Beecham, Thomas, Sir
body
conductor
head / face
individuals: male
man
named individuals
people
portraits
work and occupations
<p>Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) was an orchestral conductor and operatic impresario. This bust was commissioned by the society hostess and patron Lady Cunard, who also commissioned one of herself. Mestrovic was a Croatian artist whose expressive sculptures, inspired by Auguste Rodin, gained an international reputation. This work was made in London during the First World War, after Mestrovic’s opposition to the Austro-Hungarian authorities forced him to flee his homeland. He later became an American citizen.</p><p><i>Ivan Mestrovic was born in Vrpolje, Croatia in 1883. He died in South Bend, Indiana in 1962.</i></p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
sculpture bronze
3 May 2004 – 30 August 2004
2004-08-30
3 May 2004
2004-05-03
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2004-05-03
Turbine Hall (heads)
Collection based display
Sir Thomas Beecham, Bt.
object: 492 × 165 × 213 mm
Presented by Lady Cunard 1921
<p>Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) was an orchestral conductor and operatic impresario. This bust was commissioned by the society hostess and patron Lady Cunard, who also commissioned one of herself. Mestrovic was a Croatian artist whose expressive <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>sculptures</span></a>, inspired by Auguste Rodin, gained an international reputation. This work was made in London during the First World War, after Mestrovic’s opposition to the Austro-Hungarian authorities forced him to flee his homeland. He later became an American citizen.
<br/>
<br/><i>Ivan Mestrovic was born in Vrpolje, Croatia in 1883. He died in South Bend, Indiana in 1962.</i>
<br/></p>

Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Ivan </b><b>Meštrović</b><span>
1883-1962 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><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-sir-thomas-beecham-bt-n03601" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03601</span></a> </span><b>Sir Thomas Beecham, Bt.</b><span>
1915 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed '</span><span>MEŠTROVIĆ</span><span> | MCMXV' on base, r.</span>
<br/><span>Bronze, 19 3/8 x 6 1/2 x 8 3/8 (49.2 x 16.5 x 21.2)</span>
<br/><span>Presented by Lady Cunard 1921</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
Lady Cunard, London (purchased from the artist)</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
International Society, Grosvenor Gallery, London, October-November 1915 (218 A); </span><i>Jugoslav Sculpture and Painting</i><span>, Tate Gallery, April-May 1930 (21); </span><i>Jugoslav Paintings and Sculpture</i><span>, Manchester City Art Gallery, May-June 1931 (49); </span><i>Yugoslavia</i><span>, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, January-February 1943 (64); Glasgow School of Art, February-March 1943 (no catalogue traced); Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, April 1943 (376); Kendal Milne and Co., Manchester, May 1943 (no catalogue traced); Castle Museum, Norwich, June-July 1943 (376); Mortimer Museum Galleries, Hull, July-August 1943 (376); Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, August-September 1943 (no catalogue traced); Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, October-December 1943 (56); </span><i>Yugoslav Exhibition</i><span>, RA, London, January-February 1944 (47); </span><i>Music in Painting</i><span>, Royal Festival Hall, London, May-June 1955 (no catalogue); RSA, Edinburgh, April-September 1962 (47)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Sir John Lavery, M. </span><span>Ć</span><span>ur</span><span>č</span><span>in and others, </span><i>Ivan </i><i>Meštrović</i><i>: A Monograph</i><span> (London 1919), No.217, p.65</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
Dusko Ke</span><span>č</span><span>kemet, </span><i>Ivan </i><i>Meštrović</i><span>
(New York, London, Toronto, Sydney 1970), between pp.123 and 124 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Sir Thomas Beecham, Bt. (1879-1961), the famous orchestral conductor and operatic impresario. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>According to the artist, this bust was executed in London and was commissioned and paid for by the donor, Lady Cunard, the society hostess and patron of the arts, who also commissioned a bust of herself. Lady Cunard first met Beecham in 1911, the year in which he was instrumental in bringing Diaghilev's Russian Ballet to England, and in the following years became an intimate friend and a vigorous supporter of his efforts to establish English opera. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Vesna Barbi</span><span>ć</span><span>, the Curator of the Atelier </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>
at Zagreb, writes that 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/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> was <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> at the Cantoni Foundry in London, and that there are undated letters from Lady Cunard and Beecham in </span><span>Meštrović</span><span>'s files in which they expressed their warm enthusiasm for this work. Beecham told 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>sculptor</span></a> (in French): 'It is quite impossible for me to express in a letter all my admiration for this magnificent masterpiece and my appreciation for your great genius'. As far as is known, this is the only bronze cast; 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> seems to have been lost or destroyed. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<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, p.511, reproduced p.511</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults arts and entertainment Beecham, Thomas, Sir body conductor head / face individuals: male man named individuals people portraits work and occupations