A reconstruction of the Sower by France Kralj. Photo: Jakob Pintar/STA
A larger-than-life statue created by Slovenian expressionist artist France Kralj and lost for more than eight decades has returned to Ljubljana's city centre after an extraordinary community-led reconstruction effort.
The 3.7-metre-tall Sower adorned the facade of a savings and loan association building on Štefanova Street from 1931 until around 1940, when it disappeared. Over time, its fate became forgotten.
Unlocking the mystery
The mystery began to unravel after resident Vid Libnik moved into the building with his partner in 2012 and started researching its history. While exploring archives, he discovered references to the Sower but found no explanation for its disappearance. Searches through books, newspapers and archival records yielded few clues, and even the building's oldest residents could not remember the sculpture.
The breakthrough came when he contacted the sculptor's son, the late architect Zlat Kralj, who revealed what had happened to the Sower .
His father was experimenting with new techniques. He made the statue of wood and clad it with copper. "He apparently did not join two of the copper pieces properly in one spot, so water seeped inside, the wood rotted, and the sculpture collapsed in on itself," Libnik said about what the sculptor's son told him.
Formidable undertaking
Determined to restore the missing landmark, Libnik launched a project to return the Sower to its original home - an undertaking he says often seemed impossible.
He enlisted the support of fellow residents, who unanimously endorsed the project, acquired approval from the heritage and monuments authorities and collected part of the funds. The rest was raised by donors.
Denis Dražetić and Denis Vučko, sculpture students at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design, reconstructed the statue under the mentorship of professor Matjaž Počivavšek, drawing on archival photographs and two small-scale models.
"The reference pictures were limited, taken from afar in black and white," Dražetić said. "Because the statue stood seven metres above the ground, we had to view our work from below and at an angle to recreate how it would appear from the street."
Počivavšek said that getting immersed in Kralj's work was also extremely important so that the reconstruction could resemble the original work as much as possible.
They initially intended to make the sculpture using synthetic materials to reduce costs. But because they found no reliable data on whether such materials would withstand the elements and the test of time, they decided to cast the statue in bronze instead.
Having studied the reference photographs, sketches and other works by Kralj, they first made the statue in clay and then created the moulds for the individual parts of the statue to be cast.
What you sow you reap
After years of research and efforts, the reconstructed Sower was unveiled at a ceremony on 14 June to the applause of the residents of 9 Štefanova Street who have fought so long to restore a missing piece of Ljubljana's architectural heritage.
"I believe the statue sends out a strong message that what you sow you reap." Jasna Kralj, the artist's daughter-in-law, said on the occasion, while art historian Andrej Smrekar praised the community for doing what the financial institution that commissioned the original failed to do - "to cast the Sower in bronze, which means it will stay".
Štefanova Street is also home to Ljubljana's iconic 1930s Skyscraper ( Nebotičnik ), the headquarters of the Interior Ministry and several other listed buildings created in the functionalist style in the 1920s.
Kralj (1895-1960), one of the leading figures of Slovenian expressionism, worked as a painter, graphic artist and sculptor. He studied in Vienna and Prague and later taught in Ljubljana while remaining active in Slovenia's art associations.
Read the full article at The Slovenia Times →
Slovenia