BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The dynastic monuments in Bosnia and Herzegovina had a completely opposite fate from that in France, and a similar, even identical fate as in Slovenia and Croatia (see the first continuation).
The first monument erected in the area of Vrbaska banovina was the memorial complex to King Peter I in Sarajevo in 1923, and during the next decade, the construction of a series of other monumental dynastic monuments by the leading Yugoslav sculptors of the time followed.
As Vladimir Mitrović writes in the work "Dynastic Monuments in the Kingdom of SHS/Yugoslavia 1919-1941", both dynastic monuments of the sculptor Sreten Stojanović depict King Peter I (Nevesinje, 1928) and Alexander I (Tuzla, 1935) as standing figures with imposing gestures, in a position close to the ancient contraposto, as military leaders, in ceremonial uniforms, with swords and general insignia. In Visoko, a place north-east of Sarajevo, on June 20, 1937, a monument to King Alexander I, the work of the famous Yugoslav sculptor Lojza Dolinar, was consecrated. As was usual for Dolinovar's dynastic solutions, the Visoč monument also had a standing figure of the king on top of a pedestal on which relief panels with scenes symbolically depicting the national unity of the Yugoslav people were displayed.
The only female sculptor in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the interwar Yugoslavia was Iva Despić Simonović, an academic sculptor from Sarajevo, who, working in Sarajevo between 1935-1937, produced several successful monuments of kings Peter I and Alexander I in Mostar, Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Visoko, Gračanica near Doboj, Vladičina Han and Ljubljana. Its dynastic monuments are mostly somewhat hypertrophied busts of kings placed on high pedestals carved from local stone. All these monuments were placed inside the tobacco factories which, as a state monopoly, represented great production potential in the modest economies of Bosnian settlements. Of her monuments, the portrait of King Alexander from the Sarajevo tobacco factory stands out in particular, where a stylized and lyrically refined sculptural expression is noticeable, which betrays an experienced and educated artist. Conceived in sharp and straight strokes, this portrait is one of the most modern views of King Alexander.
One of the rare classics of Serbian sculpture, the already aged Đorđe Jovanović, a member of the Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts, in his rich career executed several portraits of the royal family in the interwar period. Jovanović sculpted a bust of King Alexander I and Queen Maria in white marble for the Banska dvore in Banja Luka in 1931. According to the preserved photographs, they were, for Jovanovic, characteristic portraits of rulers, stylized firmly and precisely with classical details, which belong more to the past 19th century than to the time of installation.
At that time, the still young but successful sculptor Risto Stijović was the author of two monuments - a bust of King Alexander I in the courtyard of the main post office in Sarajevo (1935) and a similarly conceived monument in the Kalinovika city park (1936). They were slightly enlarged bronze portraits, placed on high pedestals.
MONTENEGRO
Compared to other areas, the smallest number of dynastic monuments was erected in Montenegro. During the thirties, only a few memorial plaques were consecrated (Cetinje, 1931; Kamenar, 1935; Savina monastery, 1935), as well as a couple of memorial fountains on local roads.
There is no doubt that the monument of King Alexander I in Cetinje, the work of Ivan Meštrović, is the key dynastic monument erected in the territory of Montenegro, in the king's birthplace. Although the ceremonial unveiling is scheduled for October 9, 1940, the day of the assassination in Marseille, its prehistory goes back several years. Back in the summer of 1938, Belgrade's "Pravda" explained to its readers the future appearance of the monument, with surprising precision and expertise. The idea of this work is interesting and powerful: King Alexander is shown with a sharp swing of a drawn saber, while the horse under him mounts with tight reins. The figure of the king itself is extremely well executed and perfectly faithful, because Meštrović used as a model a portrait of the king that he had made in bronze a few years earlier. In the text, special praise is given to the depiction of horses, where the artist was particularly skilled. His musculature is hypertrophied, but it does not spoil the general impression, but, on the contrary, they strongly enliven the entire composition, which is boiling with dynamics.
In the fall of the following year, 1939, Meštrović arrived in Cetinje to determine the place for the future monument together with the representatives of the city. Then the final location was determined and announced - on the plateau in front of the Castle of King Nikola Petrović, on the land that used to be the house of Duke Bož Petrović, at that time Trg kralja Aleksandra. However, another calendar year should have passed to finish the (parter) works around the construction of the square around the monument. It seems that the exact date of discovery and consecration has not been determined, but the monument certainly existed at that location from the fall of 1940 until the summer of the following year, when it was irretrievably destroyed. The monument together with the granite pedestal was almost ten meters high.
This Meštrović monument together with Augustinčić's monument in Sombor existed for the shortest time, in fact only for a few months.
...…and in Skopje
MACEDONIA
Unlike other parts of the country, in the territory of Macedonia, the so-called In Southern Serbia, as well as in Montenegro, not many dynastic monuments were erected. Those that were erected, immediately after the beginning of the Bulgarian occupation of these areas, were mercilessly removed and destroyed.
The first monumental monument in this area was built in Skopje and ceremonially unveiled on December 17 (the birthday of King Alexander I) in 1924. The monument was ten meters high, consisting of a massive pedestal representing a rock made of irregularly shaped natural stone blocks with two figures on top. The figure of a Serbian soldier, a foot soldier, shown in full war gear, was about two meters tall. Next to him was shown the figure of a woman in Sumadija national costume offering a victorious laurel wreath to a soldier. The sketch for the monument was made by construction engineer Bronštajn, while the creation of the figures of the soldier and woman was entrusted to the stonemason Lunaček from Belgrade, where the figures were carved and then transported to Skopje. It is also one of the few monuments that were made in stone.
Sculptor Lojze Dolinar is the author of two monuments in Skopje from 1935 - a monument to student warriors and a memorial bust of King Alexander I. The first monument, over four meters high, shows several characters - a girl who symbolizes Serbia leads the student warriors in battle, while on the opposite side of the pedestal, the figure of a woman-mother is shown, who after the victory, instead of her son, receives his military insignia, a helmet, a beaten sword and an olive branch.
Sculptor Antun Augustinčić is the author of the equestrian monuments to King Peter I and Alexander I in Skopje, which were discovered in the fall of 1937, near the approach to the Stone (Dušan) Bridge on Vardar in the city center. A large competition was announced for the Skopje monument, in which several well-known Yugoslav sculptors (Petar Palavičini, Boris Kalin) took part. The architect Drago Galić from Zagreb collaborated on the development of the projects and ground floor arrangement, who also helped Augustinčić during the ground floor installation of the Batinska Batka monument, erected a decade later. Equestrian figures of kings were placed on high decorative portals to the left and right of the bridge, with pedestrian approaches. Two monuments to King Alexander I from 1937 represent the figures of the warrior king placed on high pedestals - in Ohrid, by Sreten Stojanović and in Bitola, by sculptor Dragutin Spasić, author of numerous monuments at Belgrade's New Cemetery. During this period, several memorial busts of kings were erected (Skopje, 1936; Bitola, 1936; Kičevo, 1937; Demir Kapija, 1938).
(To be continued)
