Frano Kršinić was born on July 24, 1897 in Lumbarda on the island of Korčula into a family of peasants and stonecrafters. As a young man he himself was trained in the art of stonecrafting in the local school, and proceeded to attend a sculpting school in Hořice in the Czech Republic. He graduated there in 1916 and enrolled at the Art Academy in Prague. He studied in the classes of J. V Myslbek and J. Štursa and graduated in 1920. The same year he returned to Croatia and began his career as a freelance sculptor working in Zemun and Zagreb.

By the late twenties his individual expression is formed, away from the mainstreams of art-deco and the overwhelming influence of Meštrović. It is in this period that his individual style and sculptural elegance took shape through a number of works defined by soft lines in closed forms such as Awakening, Diana, Woman Tending a Rose, Reading, After the Bath.

In his middle years Kršinić is devoted to fine chiseling in marble mostly of female acts and motherly motifs: Meditation, Mother Feeding a Child, Woman in Bonds, Plait my Hair, Mother and others. It is in this period that he created his most characteristic composition Mother's play, several variations of a daring composition of Fishermen, as well as a dozen large-size monuments placed in open spaces.

Towards the end of his active life Kršinić modelled numerous variations of the ‘young girl’ motif as well as acts and executed them in marble, in small formats. Works such as Worry, Sunbathing, Repose, Young girl, Woman in Bonds, Awakening, Meditation represent perfection in the softness of sculpting in marble.

Kršinić taught sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb from 1924 to 1967, with postgraduate sculptural workshop from 1947 onwards. In 1948 he was elected a member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1975 he retired from active career and on January 1st, 1982 he died in Zagreb.

Remaining ever faithful to the figurative expression of classic proportions Kršinić exerted a significant influence on the sculpturers of his period. He created some of the anthological works of Croatian sculpture such as Mother's Play, Meditation and After the Bath. Excelling in the beauty of lines, softness of volume and integrity of composition these works belong to the very apex of European figurative sculpture of the 20th century.