METROVIC, IVAN

born Aug. 15, 1883, Vrpolje, Slavonia, Austria-Hungary [now in Croatia] died Jan. 16, 1962, South Bend, Ind., U.S. sculptor whose works are characterized by bold cutting and great powers of design. The son of Croatian peasants, Metrovic was apprenticed to a marble cutter at the age of 13, and three years later he entered the Vienna Academy, where he studied until 1904. He exhibited at the Vienna Sezession exhibitions, at the Austrian exhibition at Earl's Court in London in 1906, and at Munich, Venice, and Paris, where he attracted the notice of Auguste Rodin. He promoted a Croatian artistic movement culminating in an exhibition at Zagreb in 1910 and two years later was appointed rector of the academy at Zagreb. Metrovic moved to the United States in January 1947, became a U.S. citizen in 1954 and a professor of fine arts at the University of Notre Dame the following year. His works include many religious reliefs and figures carved in walnut, such as The Deposition, a relief in the Tate Gallery in London. A one-man exhibition in 1947 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, included figures representing Job and Despair, and a Piet weighing more than five tons. An architect as well as a sculptor, Metrovic designed his own house at Split, Yugos., now used as a museum for his works.