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Andrija Maurović

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Andrija Maurović
Portrait of Andrija Maurović
Andrija Maurović
Born(1901-03-29)29 March 1901
Muo, Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary
(now Muo, Montenegro)
Died2 September 1981(1981-09-02) (aged 80)
Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
(now Zagreb, Croatia)
NationalityCroatian
Area(s)Writer, artist
Notable works
Stari Mačak
CollaboratorsFranjo Fuis

Andrija Maurović (Croatian pronunciation: [ǎndrija maǔːroʋit͡ɕ]; 29 March 1901 – 2 September 1981) was a comic book author, often called the father of Croatian and Yugoslav comics.[1] He is mostly known for his Stari Mačak (Old Mickey, Old Tom-cat) series, which eventually became a nickname for the author himself.

He was born in Muo near Kotor in the Kingdom of Dalmatia (in present-day Montenegro) to a family of mixed background. He enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and subsequently pursued his career as an illustrator and comic book creator for local publications. Together with other writers and artists, he founded the comics magazine "Mickey Strip" in 1937, where much of his work was serialized. He is known for his realistic, rough style, utilizing black-and-white contrasts and dynamic flow through the use of perspectives.

Biography

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Maurović was born in the village of Muo (part of Kotor) in Boka Kotorska in present-day Montenegro (at the time in Austria-Hungary) to a Slovene father (spelled Maurowitch)[2])[3][4] and a Croat mother from Boka Kotorska.[5][6][2] After a short stay in Kraków, Poland, he moved with his family to Dubrovnik, near his birthplace, where he attended elementary and secondary school.

Following the recommendation of the writer Ivo Vojnović, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He soon came into conflict with the academy's rules, as it prevented students from working during their studies. At that time he began illustrating books, weekly and daily newspapers, and working for graphic institutions, booksellers and editors, particularly for St. Kugli. He dropped out during his first academic year to focus on his professional work on illustrations, caricatures, posters and graphic design. His works appeared in publications like Jutarnji list, Novosti, Koprive, Ženski svijet, and Kulisa.

In 1935, he created his first comic Vjerenica Mača (The Sword's Fiancée), published in the Zagreb newspaper Novosti.[7] In the same year, Maurović co-launched Oko, the first Yugoslav comics magazine.

Maurović collaborated with eminent Croatian writers and screenplay writers, such as Franjo Fuis. He based his illustrations on literary models by authors like Alex Tolstoy, Zane Grey, August Šenoa, Jack London, B. Traven, Max Brand, and H. G. Wells.[8]

A man of many talents, Maurović was a successful designer of socialist realist posters, at a time when poster propaganda was much more prominent.[9] He also painted seascapes and apocalyptic scenes, and worked as a caricaturist, illustrator, and preacher. At a time when there was no pornography in any medium, Maurović published a series of drawings alluding to extramarital and marital relations.[10] He also created a great number of comic strip heroes and personalities (like Dan, Old Tom-cat, Radoslav). His works are part of the Sudac Collection.

In the 1960s, a redesigned version of the Dubrovnik chess set by Andrija Maurović was created and produced in the workshop of master craftsman Jakopović in Zagreb. The most obvious changes in the redesign can be observed in the knights with simplified carving and the queens having only five cuts in the crown as opposed to the original eleven. Bobby Fischer was often filmed and photographed with his own 1970 Dubrovnik chess set that was later stolen.[citation needed]

Towards the end of his life, he "gave up working on mainstream comics and turned to an ascetic lifestyle that excluded the luxuries of running water and electricity, painting huge oil paintings with apocalyptic motifs and hardcore porn comics for his own pleasure".[11] For Maurović, candaulism was said to be "not an individual excess but an obsession that preoccupies all his pornographic comics. Only the men to which the husband exposes his wife differ – but it is desirable that they should be as ugly, wild, dirty, proscribed, and socially unacceptable as possible, to make the transgression even greater and the humiliation even more powerful. In order to emphasise all the more the power of the sexual instinct that drives the actors and crushes prohibition."[10]

Maurović died in Zagreb, and was buried in the Mirogoj Cemetery. Although it may not be possible to fully reconstruct Maurović's political beliefs, his basic attitude is considered identical with that of his comics heroes: the victory of justice and freedom.[12]


Stari Mačak

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Maurović began his best-known series, centered around the eponymous character Stari Mačak (Old Tom-cat), in 1937.[13][14][15] The series and its characters were created in collaboration with journalist Franjo Fuis, who, detesting adaptations, opted instead for an original series. The character "Stari Mačak" was first introduced in Gospodar Zlatnih Bregova (Master of the Golden Hills, January 1937) as an elderly wanderer who lost his memories after a tragic accident. The work was first serialized in the magazine "Novosti", and subsequently in the comics magazine "Mickey Strip" under the name Crni Jahač (Dark Rider, 1938). He is not a typical Western hero, as Maurović sought inspiration from his daily acquaintances, basing Stari Mačak on a construction worker he frequently met at a pub on Ilica street.

This was quickly followed by Sablast Zelenih Močvara (Spook of the Green Swamps), where Stari Mačak was joined by wandering poet Polagana Smrt (Slow Death), along with his parrot Penelope and his horse Tulip. Posljednja pustolovina Starog Mačka (Old cat's last adventure) was published in volumes from November 1 to December 27, 1937.[16]

Legacy

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Comic book historians Zdravko Zupan and Slavko Draginčić lauded Maurović for his masterful ability to develop visual dynamics, with particular emphasis on black and white contrasting. Art historian Vera Horvat Pintarić wrote about his interwar period comic book work:[17]

Presenting himself in all these works as a sovereign ruler of black and white surfaces, impressive visual dynamics and utilizing movie-technique views, Maurović manages to achieve that which was not to be previously seen even globally.

Timothy O. Benson described him as a superb master of the art of cartoon, stating that "intensified interest in mass communications have resulted in reconsideration of his entire oeuvre".[18] Maurović ignored global trends of comics in the 30s, creating his own distinct style and utilizing a great variety of themes for his opus. This involved both the use of monochromatic sfumato and playing with perspectives and scenes.[16] It is for these reasons he is generally considered to be the father of comic books and illustration in the territories of the former Yugoslavia, and its most popular author.[19][20]

Goran Sudžuka cited him as his main influence, praising him as "A truly unique figure in the whole comic industry, not just in Croatia.".[11] The comic strip club in Kotor bears his name.

Bibliography

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Starting with his first comic strip Bride of the Sword in 1935, in a relatively short time (1935–1940) he drew a great number of comics, including:

Their dramaturgy and morphology show a visible influence of early westerns.

At the time of the Second World War his drawings included:

And after the war followed:

References

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  1. ^ Marina Biluš (3 April 2007). "Istine i laži o majstoru stripa i erotike" [Truths and lies about a master of comics and erotica]. Nacional (in Croatian). No. 594. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b Marina Tenžera, Osim političkog tjednika 7Dnevno sve su novine sramotno izbacile strip!, 7Dnevno 11 September 2015., dnevno.hr, 12 September 2015., Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  3. ^ Đuro Vidmarović, Hrvatska predsjednica među Hrvatima u Boki kotorskoj, Hrvatsko kulturno vijeće, 7 July 2015.
  4. ^ Miljenko Jergović, Andrija Maurović: Rođen u Muo, jergovic.com, 14 September 2013.
  5. ^ Mladen Hanzlovsky, Andrija Maurović - Portret kroz zaboravljeni razgovor, 1976, Zagreb
  6. ^ "ARHiNET - Povratak starog mačka (komad)". arhinet.arhiv.hr. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  7. ^ "Od Starog Mačka i Tupka do Horny Dyke: Oni su najzanimljiviji likovi domaćeg stripa". tportal.hr (in Croatian). 1 February 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  8. ^ The Culture of the Europeans: From 1800 to the Present, Donald Sassoon, HarperPress, 2006, pp. 1077
  9. ^ Dulibić, Frano (2018). Andrija Maurović: Between Political Ideologies and Pornography (case study exhibition). Zagreb: Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, Zagreb. p. 54. ISBN 978-953-8146-50-3.
  10. ^ a b Dulibić, Frano (2018). Andrija Maurović: Between Political Ideologies and Pornography (case study exhibition). Zagreb: Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, Zagreb. p. 55. ISBN 978-953-8146-50-3.
  11. ^ a b "My Five Most Influential Croatian Comic Book Artists". 26 May 2012.
  12. ^ Dulibić, Frano (2018). Andrija Maurović: Between Political Ideologies and Pornography (case study exhibition). Zagreb: Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, Zagreb. p. 56. ISBN 978-953-8146-50-3.
  13. ^ "Stari mačak europskog stripa".
  14. ^ The World encyclopedia of comics, Volume 1, Maurice Horn, Chelsea House Publishers, Jul 1, 1976, pp. 42
  15. ^ Comics: an illustrated history, Alan Clark, Laurel Clark, Green Wood, 1991, pp. 138
  16. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-19. Retrieved 2019-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ Istorija jugoslovenskog stripa do 1941. godine, Zdravko Zupan
  18. ^ Central European Avant-gardes: Exchange and Transformation, 1910-1930, Timothy O. Benson, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2002, pp. 259
  19. ^ Histoire mondiale de la bande dessinée, Claude Moliterni, P. Horay, 1989
  20. ^ Coca-Cola Socialism: Americanization of Yugoslav Culture in the Sixties, Radina Vucetic, pp. 222
  21. ^ planB.hr - Crni Jahač Archived September 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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