Mate Čvrljak: Otokar Keršovani

(inauguracija biste 1974. godine)

Keršovani, Otokar

Otokar Keršovani (pseud. V. Dragin, R. Gregović, V. Bezjak, Ivan Marković, Junius), novinar, političar, književni kritičar i publicist (Trst, 23. II. 1902 – Zagreb, 9. VII. 1941). U Pazinu gdje je njegov otac službovao kao niži šumarski činovnik, završio je osnovnu školu i šest razreda Hrvatske gimnazije (1912 – 1918). S majkom i bratom stanovao je u predjelu Buraja. Bio je aktivan u đačkim društvima i na debatnim kružocima. Zajedno s bratom Konradom učio je svirati violinu kod profesora Saše Šantela i nastupali su s đačkim orkestrom Pazinske gimnazije na dobrotvornim koncertima u Pazinu 1917. i 1918. Nakon Prvog svjetskog rata kada je Istra pripojena Italiji, napušta s bratom obitelj i odlazi u Kraljevinu Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca. Školovanje je nastavio u Karlovcu gdje je postojao internat za srednjoškolce pa završava gimnaziju (ispit zrelosti položio je 1920. u gimnaziji u Karlovcu). Učenici su izdavali svoj srednjoškolski list pod nazivom Timor, što je bila kratica njihove devize Tužnu Istru moramo osloboditi radom. List je bio kaligrafski pisan tušem, a izlazio je od 1920. do 1924. U njemu je K. objavio svoje prve tekstove. Zagrebački Gospodarsko-šumarski fakultet upisao je 1920. godine, ali je svu energiju usmjerio na djelatnost studentskog društva Jurislav Janušić. Kao student počeo je objavljivati članke i književne kritike u Mladoj Jugoslaviji, Podravskom glasniku i Našoj domovini. Studij je napustio 1924. i posvetio se novinarstvu, pisao je za zagrebačke Novosti i Slobodnu tribinu. Godine 1925. seli u Beograd gdje je sudjelovao u pokretanju časopisa Nova literatura i u kojem je objavljivao polemike, pamflete i književne kritike, a u Politici  kazališne kritike. Pisao je glazbene i kazališne kritike, članke o unutrašnjoj i vanjskoj politici, Istri i talijanskom fašizmu, putopise te feljtone o poznatim osobama (M. A. Bakunjin, sv. Franjo Asiški, T. G. Masaryk, L. Trocki i dr.). Surađivao je u Letopisu Matice srpske u kojem je objavio književno-sociološke studije o N. G. Černiševskom i I. Cankaru.  Objavljivao je članke u beogradskim Novostima u kojima je bio glavni urednik 1925 – 1927. Bio je član Saveza komunističke omladine Jugoslavije od 1927, a Komunističke partije Jugoslavije od 1928. Iste je godine osuđen na godinu dana zatvora. Po povratku sa zadatka u Beču uhićen je 14. veljače 1930. u Ljubljani i osuđen u Beogradu. Za desetogodišnje zatvorske kazne u Srijemskoj Mitrovici nastavio je politički djelovati među zatvorenicima, održavao tečajeve, pisao o klasnim i nacionalnim pitanjima, a od 1936. uređivao ilegalni zatvorski dnevnik Udarnik. Iz zatvora je pušten 17. veljače 1940. Nakon izlaska iz zatvora pa do pogibije objavio je u časopisu Izraz više od 50 priloga (tekstove o djelima A. Šenoe, A. Kovačića, A. Cesarca, M. Budaka i dr.), filmske i kazališne kritike, polemike i dr. U tzv. sukobu na književnoj ljevici priklonio se skupini oko Književnih sveski osuđujući Krležino shvaćanje umjetnosti. Nakon demonstracija protiv Trojnog pakta uhićen je u Zagrebu noću 30. ožujka 1941. godine. Banska vlast predala ga je ustašama i zatočila u logoru Kerestinec. Odbio je nekoliko prijedloga da ga ustaše oslobode. Kada su posljednji put došli po njega, zatražio je samo da dovrši rečenicu na Tezama o povijesti Hrvata. Ustaške vlasti su ga strijeljale u Dotrščini 9. srpnja 1941. kao  duhovnog začetnika otpora. Ostvario je značajan i raznovrstan opus koji ga je uvrstio među najistaknutije hrvatske marksističke intelektualce između dvaju svjetskih ratova.

Njegovo ime nosi nagrada za životno djelo u novinarstvu. Dodjeljuje ju Hrvatsko novinarsko društvo od 1965. godine.

Izvjesna produhovljenost i elegancija prožima poprsje Otokara Keršovanija, a ujedno i potvrđuje kipara Matu Čvrljka kao umjetnika moćne psihološke opservacije koja pored izvanjskog izgleda  znatno doprinosi individualizaciji portretiranih likova. Uobičajen, strog i frontalan stav zamijenjen je okretom glave i pogledom nadesno. U minucioznoj i mekoj obradi lica iskorištena je mogućnost oblikovanja svakog anatomskog detalja: bujne kose izrazitih zalizaka, nabora žila na čelu, pravilnog nosa, punih usnica. Keršovanija, dionika istarske povijesti, fizičkim izgledom prema ovom portretu percipiramo kao markantnog intelektualca srednje životne dobi, blagog karaktera i uznositog držanja.

Mate Čvrljak, akademski kipar (Konjevrate kod Šibenika, 30. IV. 1934 – Rijeka, 17. IV.  2018). Diplomirao je kiparstvo na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu u klasi prof. Vanje Radauša (1961), od 1962. do 1964. bio je suradnik majstorske radionice Antuna Augustinčića. Od 1965. do 2000. radio je kao profesor umjetnosti u Srednjoj školi Mate Blažina u Labinu i suutemeljitelj je Labinskih ateliera. Sudjelovao je na skulptorskim simpozijima, od 1972. godine održao brojne samostalne izložbe, a 1985. izložbu skulptura u Kaštelu u Pazinu. Čvrljak je autor javnih spomenika u Labinu, Buzetu, Aranđelovcu (Srbija), Iloku, Puli i Medulinu. Ostvario je značajan opus portreta i poprsja koji su postavljeni u javne i otvorene prostore. U pazinskom Parku istarskih velikana autor je sedam bisti.

Otokar Keršovani

Sculptor: Mate Čvrljak, inauguration of the bust:1974

Otokar Keršovani (pseud. V. Dragin, R. Gregović, V. Bezjak, Ivan Marković, Junius), was a journalist, politician, literary critic and publicist (Trieste, February 23, 1902 – Zagreb, July 9, 1941). In Pazin, where his father served as a junior forestry official, he completed elementary school and six grades at the Croatian High School (1912–18). He lived with his mother and brother in the Buraj neighbourhood. He was active in student societies and debate circles. Together with his brother Konrado, he learned to play the violin with professor Saša Šantel, performing with the students’ orchestra of Pazin High School at charity concerts in Pazin in 1917 and 1918. After the First World War, when Istria was annexed to Italy, he and his brother left the family and went to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. He continued his education in Karlovac, where there was a boarding school for high school students, and then finished high school (he passed the maturity exam in 1920 at the high school in Karlovac). Students had been publishing their high school paper called Timor, which was an abbreviation of their motto Tužnu Istru moramo osloboditi radom (We must free sad Istria by working). The paper was written in calligraphy in ink, and was published from 1920 to 1924. In it, Keršovani published his first texts. He enrolled at the Faculty of Economics and Forestry in Zagreb in 1920, but focused all his energy on the activities of the Jurislav Janušić student association. As a student, he started publishing articles and literary reviews in Mlada Yugoslavia, Podravski glasnik and Naša domovina. He left his studies in 1924 and devoted himself to journalism, writing for Zagreb’s Novosti and Slobodna tribina. In 1925, he moved to Belgrade, where he participated in the launch of the magazine Nova literatura, in which he published polemics, pamphlets and literary criticism, and in Politika he expressed theatre criticism. He wrote music and theatre reviews, articles on internal and external politics, Istria and Italian fascism, travelogues and feuilletons about famous people (M. A. Bakunin, St. Francis of Assisi, T. G. Masaryk, L. Trotsky, etc.). He collaborated in Letopis Matice srpske, in which he published literary and sociological studies about N. G. Černiševski and I. Cankar. He published articles in Belgrade’s Novosti, where he was the editor-in-chief from 1925 to 1927. He was a member of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia from 1927, and of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1928. In the same year, he was sentenced to one year in prison. On his return from his assignment in Vienna, he was arrested on February 14, 1930 in Ljubljana and convicted in Belgrade. During his ten-year prison sentence in Srijemska Mitrovica, he continued to be politically active among prisoners, held courses, wrote about class and national issues, and from 1936 edited the illegal prison journal Udarnik. He was released from prison on February 17, 1940. After his release from prison until his death, he published more than 50 articles in the magazine Izraz (texts about the works of A. Šenoa, A. Kovačić, A. Cesarec, M. Budak, etc.), and wrote film and theatre reviews, polemics, etc. In the so-called conflict on the literary left, he sided with the group around Književne sveske, condemning Krleža’s understanding of art. After the demonstrations against the Tripartite Pact, he was arrested in Zagreb at night on March 30, 1941. The authorities of Banate of Croatia handed him over to the Ustasha and imprisoned him in the Kerestinec camp. He refused several proposals to be released by the Ustasha. The last time they came to pick him up, he only asked to complete a sentence on the Teze o povijesti Hrvata (Theses on the History of Croats). He was shot by the Ustasha authorities in Dotrščina on July 9, 1941 as the spiritual originator of the resistance. He created a significant and diverse oeuvre that included him among the most prominent Croatian Marxist intellectuals between the two world wars. The lifetime achievement award in journalism assigned by the Croatian Journalists’ Association since 1965 bears his name.

A certain spirituality and elegance permeates the bust of Otokar Keršovani, while at the same time confirming the sculptor Mate Čvrljak as an artist with powerful psychological observation which, in addition to the external appearance, contributes significantly to the individualization of the portrayed characters. The usual, strict frontal stance was replaced by a turn of the head and a look to the right. In the meticulous and soft processing of the face, the possibility of shaping every anatomical detail was used: lush hair with pronounced sideburns, creases in the veins on the forehead, a regular nose, full lips. According to this portrait of Keršovani – a participant in the history of Istria, we perceive his physical appearance as a striking middle-aged intellectual, with a mild character and a lofty demeanour.

Mate Čvrljak, was an academic sculptor (Konjevrate near Šibenik, April 30, 1934 – Rijeka, April 17, 2018). He graduated in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb under prof. Vanja Radauš (1961). From 1962 to 1964, he was an associate of Antun Augustinčić’s master workshop. From 1965 to 2000, he worked as an art teacher at the Mate Blažina High School in Labin and co-founded the Labin Ateliers.  He participated in sculpture symposia, and from 1972 held a number of solo exhibitions with an exhibition of sculptures in Pazin Castle in 1985. Čvrljak is the artist behind public monuments that can be found in Labin, Buzet, Aranđelovac (Serbia), Ilok, Pula and Medulin, and he also created a significant body of work of portraits and busts placed in public, open spaces, with seven of them being placed in Pazin’s Park istarskih velikana.