Andrija Maurović (; 29 March 1901 – 2 September 1981) was a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

illustrator, comic book author, and artist. He is known for his ''Stari Mačak'' (Old Mickey, Old Tom-cat) series, which eventually became his nickname. He is often called the father of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n and Yugoslav comics. Maurović was born in Muo near

Kotor Kotor (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian language, Italian: ), is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has ...

in the

Kingdom of Dalmatia The Kingdom of Dalmatia (; ; ) was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). It encompassed the entirety of the region of Dalmatia, with its capital at Zadar. History The Habs ...

(present-day

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

) to a family of Slovene-Montenegrin origin. He enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, and subsequently pursued a career as an illustrator and comic book creator for local publications. Along with other writers and artists, he founded the magazine "Mickey Strip" in 1937, where much of his work was serialized. His realistic and rough style utilizes black-and-white contrasts and a dynamic flow through the use of

perspectives Perspective may refer to: Vision and mathematics * Perspectivity, the formation of an image in a picture plane of a scene viewed from a fixed point, and its modeling in geometry ** Perspective (graphical), representing the effects of visual persp ...

Biography

Maurović was born in the village of Muo (part of

) in the

Boka Kotorska The Bay of Kotor ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Boka kotorska, Бока которска, separator=" / ", ), also known as the Boka ( sh-Cyrl, Бока), is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated a ...

in present-day

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

(at the time in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

), to a Slovene father (spelled Maurowitch))Đuro Vidmarović
Hrvatska predsjednica među Hrvatima u Boki kotorskoj
Hrvatsko kulturno vijeće, 7 July 2015.

Miljenko Jergović Miljenko Jergović (born 28 May 1966) is a prominent Bosnian writer. Biography Born in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia to Croatian parents, Jergović received his M.A. in literature from the Sarajevo University. While at hi ...

Andrija Maurović: Rođen u Muo
jergovic.com, 14 September 2013. and a

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

mother from the

.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. After a short stay in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, he and his family moved to

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

, near his birthplace, where he attended elementary and secondary school. Following the recommendation of the writer

Ivo Vojnović Ivo Vojnović (9 October 1857 – 30 August 1929) was a writer from Dubrovnik. Biography Vojnović was born in Dubrovnik as the first son of Count Konstantin Vojnović (1832–1903) and Maria de Serragli (1836–1922) on 9 October 1857 in D ...

, Andrija Maurović enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in

. At that time, he began illustrating books, weekly and daily newspapers, and working for graphic institutions, booksellers and editors, such as St. Kugli. He came into conflict with the academy's rules, which prevented students from working during their studies. He left the Academy of Fine Arts during his first academic year to focus on his professional work creating illustrations,

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

s, posters, and

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

. Andrija Maurović's works appeared in publications such as ''

Jutarnji list () is a Croatian daily newspaper based in Zagreb. It was published on 6 April 1998 by EPH (Europapress holding, owned by Ninoslav Pavić), which eventually changed its name in Hanza Media after being bought by Marijan Hanžeković. The newspap ...

'', '' Novosti'', ''Koprive'', ''Ženski svijet'', and ''Kulisa''. In 1935, he created his first comic, ''Vjerenica Mača'' (The Sword's Fiancée), which was published in the

newspaper Novosti. In the same year, Maurović co-launched ''Oko'', the first Yugoslav comics magazine. Maurović also collaborated with Croatian authors and screenplay writers, such as Franjo Fuis. He based his illustrations on literary models such as Alex Tolstoy,

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontier ...

August Šenoa August Ivan Nepomuk Eduard Šenoa (; originally Schönoa; 14 November 1838 – 13 December 1881) was a Croatian novelist, playwright, poet, and editor. Born to an ethnic German and Slovak family, Šenoa became a key figure in the developmen ...

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

, B. Traven,

Max Brand Frederick Schiller Faust (May 29, 1892 – May 12, 1944) was an American writer known primarily for his Western (genre), Western stories using the pseudonym Max Brand. As Max Brand, he also created the popular fictional character of young ...

, and

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

. Maurović designed socialist realist posters. He also painted seascapes and apocalyptic scenes, and worked as a

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Abril Lamarque (1904–1999) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfre ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

, and

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

. At a time when

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

was mostly absent from mainstream media, Maurović published a series of drawings alluding to extramarital and marital relations. He also created a number of comic strip heroes and personalities such as ''Dan'', ''Old Tom-cat'', and ''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 Jakopović in

. Changes in the set's 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 Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

was often filmed and photographed with his own 1970 Dubrovnik chess set, which was later stolen. Towards the end of his life, he "gave up working on mainstream comics and turned to an ascetic lifestyle that excluded running water and electricity, painting large oil paintings with apocalyptic motifs and hardcore porn comics for his own pleasure". For Maurović,

candaulism Candaulism, also called candaulesism, is a paraphilic sexual practice or fantasy in which one person exposes their naked partner, or images of their naked partner, to other people for their voyeuristic pleasure or the pleasure of their partner. C ...

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. This further emphasizes the power of the sexual instinct that drives the actors and crushes prohibition." Maurović died in

and was buried in the

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, ), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery (), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members of all religious groups: Catholic, Orthodox, M ...

. It is speculated that Maurović's comic heroes promoted the victory of justice and freedom, and that Maurović lived by this ideology as well.

''Stari Mačak''

Maurović began his best-known series, centered around the character Stari Mačak (Old Tom-cat), in 1937. 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 Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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.

Legacy

Comic book historians

Zdravko Zupan Zdravko Zupan ( sr-cyr, Здравко Зупан; 7 February 1950 – 9 October 2015) was a Yugoslav comic book creator and historian. He is best known for comics such as " Tom & Jerry", "Zuzuko", "Munja", "Mickey Mouse", "Goofy" and " Ellswort ...

and Slavko Draginčić praised Maurović for his ability to develop visual dynamics, with particular emphasis on black and white contrasting. Art historian Vera Horvat Pintarić wrote about his

Interwar Period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

comic book work: 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". 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 A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...

sfumato Sfumato ( , ; , i.e. 'blurred') is a painting technique for softening the transition between colours, mimicking an area beyond what the human eye is focusing on, or the out-of-focus plane. It is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissan ...

, and playing with perspectives and scenes. It is for these reasons that 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. Goran Sudžuka cited him as his main influence, praising him as "A truly unique figure in the whole comic industry, not just in Croatia.". The comic strip club in

bears his name.

Bibliography

Starting with his first comic strip ''Bride of the Sword'' in 1935, he drew a great number of comics in a relatively short time (1935–1940), including: * ''Empress of the Netherworld'' * ''Mistress from Mars'' (after Alex Tolstoy) * ''Three Men in the Dark'' (after

) * ''The Seventh Victim'' (after

) * ''The Black Rider''planB.hr - Crni Jahač
* ''Plague's Ship'' * ''Master of the Golden Hills'' * ''Ghost of the Green Swamps'' * ''With Fire and Sword'' (after

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...

) * ''Goldsmith's Gold'' (''Zlatarevo zlato''), based on the literary work of

* ''The Gold'' (after

) * ''Gunka Das'' (after

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

) Their dramaturgy and morphology show a visible influence of early

westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

s. At the time of

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, his drawings included: * ''The Tomb in the Rainforest'' * ''The Great Migration of the Croats'' * ''Prince Radoslav'' * ''Ahura Mazda on the Nile'' (after

Georg Ebers Georg Moritz Ebers (1 March 1837 – 7 August 1898) was a German Egyptologist and novelist. He is best known for his purchase of the Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest Egyptian medical documents in the world. Life Georg Ebers was born in Berl ...

) * ''Golden Island'' (after

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

) * '' Tomislav'' After the war followed: * ''The Mexican'' (after

) * ''The Siege'' * ''The Lone Star Rider'' (after

) * ''Riders of The Purple Sage'' (after

) * ''Uglomi, the Master of the Cave'' (after

) * ''The Pearl of Evil'' * ''The Girl from Sierra'' * ''The Old Tom-cat's Return'' * ''The Old Tom-cat'' * ''The Witch of Grič'' (after

Marija Jurić Zagorka Marija Jurić (; 2 March 1873 – 30 November 1957), known by her pen name Zagorka (), was a Croatians, Croatian journalist, writer and women's rights activist. She was the first female journalist in Croatia and is among the most read Croatian wr ...

) * ''Beware the Hand from Senj'' (Čuvaj se senjske ruke), based on the literary work of

References

External links

Andrija Maurović - in English

DUBROVNIK 1950 - maple & walnut - chess pieces
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maurovic, Andrija 1901 births 1981 deaths People from Kotor People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia Croatian comics artists 20th-century Croatian illustrators Croatian magazine illustrators Croatian caricaturists Croatian poster artists Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Croats of Montenegro