IN MEMORIAM: RUDOLF ŠVAGEL LEŠIĆ (1911–1975) / A SKETCH FROM THE HISTORY OF THE ŠIRA GALLERY

The opening of the exhibition will be held on Friday, January 23 at 7 p.m.

FROM THE PREFACE OF THE EXHIBITION

The occasion for this exhibition is an article published in 1929 in the magazine Svijet – about the exhibition of a young sculptor, a student of the Royal Academy of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, Rudolf Švagel-Lešić, to which he enrolled in 1929/30.

The Schira/Šira Gallery has a long history. Over the decades, many famous artists have exhibited there, and it resumed its work after a long break in 2016, when it began to operate as the first formal gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Zagreb. Today, the Šira Gallery – in the form of solo and group exhibitions – presents to the general public the works of young artists – graduate students, alumni and doctoral students of art academies and related faculties, but also in the context of cooperation with various institutions in culture, art and education. In this sense, this exhibition represents a step into the gallery's past and is a dedication to a former student for whom it was the first solo exhibition in his life, and it seems to be one of the first exhibitions of the gallery recorded in the media.

The second reason for this exhibition is fifty years since the death of Rudolf Švagel-Lešić, a sculptor born in Županja in 1911, who, having shown his artistic talent at an early age with the support of local dignitaries, enrolled at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb and then in 1929 at the Academy, in the class of professors Fran Kršinić, Ivo Kerdić, Robert Frangeš Mihanović... As a gifted student, he received a scholarship in 1930/31 for the Ecole Nationale Superieure Beaux-Arts in Paris. At the World Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931, he received an award for the female torso Psyche. He continued his studies in Zagreb. In 1934 and 1935 he made family portraits and busts of Counts Eltz in Vukovar and Counts Khuen-Belassi in Nuštr, a portrait of Alojzije Stepinac in 1934 on the occasion of his episcopal appointment, a stone sculpture of Christ on the cross for the church in Grohote on Šolta in 1934, and a bust of Josip Kozarac for the Croatian Home in Vinkovci in 1938. He organized exhibitions of works in Vinkovci in 1935 and Vukovar in 1937.

From 1939 he lived in Osijek and in the studio within the Franciscan monastery he made the main altars for the Jesuit and Franciscan churches in Osijek, sculptures for the church in Valpovo and Gradište and several tombstones, and in the same year he was elected head of the art section of the Club of Croatian Writers and Artists in Osijek. In 1941 he made a relief of King Tomislav, in 1942 he participated in the exhibition of models for the monument to Ante Starčević in the Art Pavilion in Zagreb, in 1943 he made a marble bust of Ante Starčević (Županja City Museum).

After the war, he worked as an art teacher in Lepoglava, and from 1960 in Vodnjan. Life circumstances influenced his later artistic work. He died in 1975 in Vodnjan, and then was buried in Zagreb.

I would like to thank Daniel Zec, assistant professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, and Zoran Šimunović, curator of the City Museum in Vinkovci, and the head of the gallery, Korana Littvay, for their help in organizing the exhibition, who agreed to pay tribute to a former student of the Academy after the first exhibition in his life in this gallery and the last exhibition in memoriam. Jubilees are fleeting, sometimes they are forgotten, but the memories remain not only in the memory of the family, but also in these small remaining witnesses of the impermanence of artistic testimony. These sculptural fragments from the shadow of oblivion will always remind us of a silenced artistic and human destiny.

Lydia Schwagel Kacian

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

1911 Born in Županja on September 29, to father Rudolf Švagel and mother Marija Lešič (whose surname he later added out of respect for his mother), he finished elementary school and four grades of civic school in Županja

1927 He received a scholarship from the Poljak family to study at the School of Crafts in Zagreb, at the sculpture department of Robert Jean Ivanović and Davorin Hotko

1929 He organized his first solo exhibition at the Schira Gallery in Zagreb and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Department of Painting and Sculpture

1930 For the school year. In 1930/31, as a talented student, he received a scholarship to study in Paris and enrolled in sculpture at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts under Professor Jean Bouche

1931 At the great colonial exhibition in Paris, he received a bronze medal for his torso Memory. He exhibited in London and Lieg

1932 He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, in the class of professors Fran Kršinić and Ivan Kerdić

1933 He returned to Županja, opened a studio and led ceramics courses. He made a sculpture of Angels for the Prpić family tomb in Županja and the altar of the burial chapel in Gradište

1934 He made a portrait of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac and a stone sculpture of Christ on the cross for the parish church in Grohote on the island of Šolta

1935 At a solo exhibition in Vinkovci, he exhibited 33 works, mostly portraits. At the invitation of Count Eltz, he arranged a studio in the Vukovar castle, where he made family portraits, as well as portraits of the family of Count Khuen-Bellasi from Nuštr and restoration work on Baroque sculptures owned by them

1937 At a solo exhibition in Vukovar, he exhibited works in marble, bronze, wood, plaster (Madonna of Purgatory, Slavonian bagpiper ...) as well as drawings and paintings in oil and watercolor

1938 He made a bust of Josip Kozarac for the Croatian Home in Vinkovci (the bronze cast is in the Vinkovci City Museum)

1939 He came to Osijek and opened a studio in the Franciscan monastery. He made sculptures for churches in Osijek and Valpovo (relief of the Resurrection of Christ) and tombstones

1940 He participated in the Spring Exhibition of Osijek Artists with seven works and made the wooden door of the tabernacle of the main altar of the Church of St. Cross in Osijek. Cross in Osijek

1942 He participated in the exhibition of models for the monument to Ante Starčević in the Art Pavilion in Zagreb and made a marble bust of Ante Starčević (in the City Museum in Županja)

1945 On the night of April 14, he was arrested, and the works in the studio were destroyed. Because of his patriotic beliefs, he was sentenced to ten years in prison and a lifelong loss of national honor. He was in Stara Gradiška prison for two years and released on parole

1947 Sentenced again to five years and spent two years in prison in Lepoglava and released on parole. In the penitentiary, he made a well with three figures in the courtyard and a bust of Marshal Tito

1953 After several years of isolation, he worked as an art teacher in Lepoglava, Jasenovac and Bosanska Dubica

1960 He moved to Vodnjan where he taught art education in elementary school, worked very little and soon retired on disability

1975 Died in Vodnjan on November 30 and buried in the local cemetery, the remains were later moved to the family grave at Mirogoj

1996 At the request of the family, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia issued a certificate of political prisoner status

1996 At the session of the Charity Assembly of the Society "Brethren of the Croatian Dragon" on September 13, a conclusion was made to erect a memorial plaque in Županja to the "prominent Croat and patriotic academic sculptor Rudolf Švagel-Lešić"

For the exhibition in the Šira Gallery, photographs by doc.dr.sc. Daniel Zec and Marin Topić were used from the book by Daniel Zec, Osijek Sculptors of the First Half of 20.st, Museum of Fine Arts Osijek, 2014.

You can see the exhibition in the Šira Gallery during the working hours of the Gallery (Mon-Fri: 9-16 h, 18-20 h, Saturday: 11-16 h) until 2/2/2026.

The exhibition was realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb.