The famous sculptor Ivan Meštrović was born in 1883 in Vrpolje. After apprenticeship in the Split stonecutting workshop Paul Bilinić, in 1900 he left to study to Vienna where he graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts. His works were first exhibited in 1903 at the exhibition of the Vienna Secession.
Even then he was also interested in architecture. He completed lectures at the study of architecture by Friedrich Ohman in 1906. In 1908 he moved to Paris where he rented a studio in Montparnasse and became involved in the cultural life of the city. Further life and professional paths led him to Rome and London. Thus, in London in 1915 he had a solo exhibition at The Victoria and Albert Museum.
He returned to his homeland and from 1920 to 1922 carried out his first architectural - sculptural work, The Račić Family Mausoleum in Cavtat.
There followed a series of solo exhibitions around the world and the creation of public monuments and architectural works. In 1942 he left Croatia, going to Italy and Switzerland. In 1947 he settled permanently in America, where, at the invitation of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York; the first living artist to be presented there. He became a professor at Syracuse University. He died in the US in 1962 atir South Bend.
