Biography

Born in the coastal Croatian town of Drvenik in 1932, Šime Vulas is one of the most prominent contemporary sculptors during the post-WWII 20th century era of Croatia. In his younger years, he initially pursued the career of carpentry, attending an industrial school in Split, however, he left the career after dissatisfaction with this direction. He switched his focus to sculpture, enrolling at the School for Applied Arts in Split, graduating in 1953. He went on to further study at the Academy of Fine arts in Zagreb, studying under famed Croatian sculptor Vanja Radauš, graduating in 1958. Immediately after graduating, he continued on with Radauš as his assistant professor. In his early career, one of the most prevailing themes of  the work of Vulas is 'the totem' as a symbol of 'tradition', with many of his sculptures exhibiting the recurring motif of repeatedly stacked geometric shapes. Continuing the traditional theme of 'totems', the one medium Vulas enjoyed working in the most was wood, which he said allowed him a 'freer morphology' and greater ability to connect with more primitive styles of art where he could literally 'cut' his characters out of the wood's grain.

His most ambitious commission came to Vulas in the late 1960s when he was asked to create a memorial complex commemorating the WWII victims from Podhum and Grobnik who were executed during the region's Axis occupation. This spomenik at Podhum remains one of his most notable artistic achievements. In the late 1970s, Vulas began to experiment with more dramatic Biblical themes in his work, which focused highly in lights and darks, the crucifix and religious forms accented in color, with many of these works being installed in monasteries. He was brought on as a professor in 1987 by his former school, the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (where he worked until his teaching retirement in 2004). Then, in 1988, he was commissioned to create a sculpture for the Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea during the 1988 Winter Olympics. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Vulas would return to crafting wood sculptures in his classic 'totem' motif. In 2010, Vulas was given the highest Croatian artistic honor, the "Vladimir Nazor" award for a lifetime of contributions and achievement in arts and culture. Over his life, Vulas created hundreds of works, putting on dozens of solo exhibitions. Vulas passed away at the age of 87 on June 8th, 2018 in Zagreb.