(b Bjelovar, 5 June 1915). Croatian sculptor. He studied at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts (1934-8) under Frano Krsinic and Robert Franges-Mihanovic (1872-1940). After graduation he continued his studies in 1940-45, at first under Ivan Mestrovic and then under Krsinic, who along with Aristide Maillol visibly influenced his earlier work. After World War II he began working in the realist style, excelling particularly in penetrating portraits such as the Head of Ivan Goran Kovacic (1946; Zagreb, Hall Croat. Parliament). Later his handling of the surface became increasingly impressionistic, indicating his interest in the play of light and shadow on the surface of the statue that characterized all his later work. In the 1950s he began to stylize anthropomorphic motifs, changing heads, torsos and nudes into spheres or elongated geometrical bodies.
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