Supplicant Persephone
"Supplicant Persephone" by Ivan Meštrović , 1945
Supplicant Persephone is a bronze sculpture by Croatian artist Ivan Meštrović. The sculpture is located in the Mestrovic Sculpture Court. Situated on the northeast side of the Quad between Shaffer Art Building and Bowne Hall, this court features several sculptures by Meštrović, including Supplicant Persephone, Job, and Moses. Persephone stands 106 inches tall. The sculpture depicts Persephone, a goddess in Greek mythology, that was held captive in the underworld during the autumn and winter seasons. In the sculpture, Persephone is nude and reaching upwards with an anguished look on her face, seemingly pleading to a higher power to return to the land of the living.
According to Greek mythology, Persephone was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld, and forced to become his wife. Demeter, Persephone’s mother and goddess of agriculture, made a bargain with Hades that allowed Hades to keep Persephone during the autumn and winter seasons but Persephone would return to the land of the living during the spring and summer. This myth thus explained why vegetation grows in the spring and summer but disappears in the autumn and winter months. Mestrovic’s sculpture depicts Persephone pleading for her release from the underworld and is representative of both Mestrovic’s own imprisonment and human suffering in general. In 1955, Syracuse University acquired Supplicant Persephone as a gift from the Class of 1955.
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian-American sculptor born August 15, 1883 in Vrpolje, Slavonia to poor Croatian parents. At the age of fifteen, Meštrović began an apprenticeship with a master of stonemasonry. In 1889, he was accepted to the Vienna Academy where he remained until 1904. Meštrović was forced to flee Split on the eve of the Austro-Hungarian attack in 1914. Alongside Anton Trumbic and Frano Supilo, he formed the Yugoslav Committee on National Independence in London. Meštrović was also imprisoned by the Gestapo in 1941 due to his political leanings. With assistance from the Vatican, he was released in 1942. Meštrović's early work often portrayed local Croatian legends and his later works often had strong biblical themes. In 1947, Meštrović moved to the US where he secured a sculptor-in-residence with Syracuse University until 1955. During his time at Syracuse he became a US citizen. He then took a position as Professor of Sculpture at University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Iniana. Meštrović had over 50 exhibitions during his lifetime. Some have considered him a modern day Michangelo. He designed his estate in Split, Yugoslavia (now in Croatia) which was donated by him to the people of Croatia and serves as a museum containing over 50 sculptures and multiple drawings of his work to this day. Ivan Meštrović died on January 16, 1962 in South Bend, Indiana.
"Art on Campus – Supplicant Persephone." SU Art Galleries; Tatham, D. (1997). "Ivan Mestrovic in Syracuse, 1947-1955." The Courier; Schmeckebier, L. F. (1959). Ivan Meštrović sculptor and patriot. SU Press; Poster, D. (2005). “Where art thou?” Daily Orange; "The History of the Institution." Ivan Meštrović Museums. Archived 2013-04-29 at the Wayback Machine; SU Art Galleries; Sonnenfeld, D. A. "Supplicant Persephone.” Wikipedia Free Depository.