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Jordan Grabul

Skopje, North Macedonia
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Jordan Grabul's artistic efforts and achievements through his life allowed him to become recognized as one of Macedonia's greatest sculptors and also the father of modern sculpture in Macedonia. In his youth he showed great promise as an artist, but as conflict came in 1941, he went to fight as a soldier to defend Macedonia during the National Liberation War (WWII) against Axis powers. After surviving the war, he set out on the goal of becoming a sculptor. He spent time in Skopje apprenticing under great sculptors such as Dimo Todorovski and Ivan Mirkovic, while then going on to attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, which he graduated from in 1952.

He went on to teach at the School of Applied Arts in Skopje, where he first met his wife Iskra Spirov. They were soon married and had a daughter, Lira Grabul (who is today a well-known costume designer in Skopje). Through the 1950s until the early 1970s, Grabul spent a great deal of artistic effort on commissions creating grand public sculptures dedicated to the National Liberation War (WWII), most notably at Belcista, Kicevo, Skopje and Gevgelija. However, his most famous work was the Makedonium at Krusevo, Macedonia, which he worked on as a collaboration with his wife, Iskra. The Makedonium was also his last public commission, possibly due to the intense disagreements and creative battling he engaged in with the government commission who oversaw the creation of it. He retired from sculpting several years later in 1980, but continued to put on shows at various locations across the Balkans and Europe. Over his life, he won numerous awards and achievement recognitions, including twice winning the Macedonian 'October 11th' state award for excellence in the field of art and culture.

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Skopje, North Macedonia
bostjan, March 1st, 2017
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