Andrija Maurović (29 March 1901 – 2 September 1981) was a renowned comic book author, often called the father of Croatian and Yugoslav comics. He is mostly known for his Stari Mačak (Old Mickey, Old Cat) series, published mostly during the 30s, eventually becoming a nickname for the author himself.
He was born in Muo near Kotor in the Kingdom of Dalmatia (today in Montenegro) to a family of mixed background, eventually enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and subsequently pursuing his career as an illustrator and comic book creator for the 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
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)). and a mother Croat from Boka Kotorska (now in Montenegro). After a short stay in Kraków, Poland, he moved with his family to the nearby city of Dubrovnik where he attended elementary and secondary school.
Following the recommendation of the writer Ivo Vojnović, he enrolled at the Academy of Arts in Zagreb. Soon he got into conflicts regarding norms and rules because the academy prevented students from working during their studies. At that time he started illustrating books, weekly and daily newspapers, and working for graphic institutions, booksellers and editors, particularly for St. Kugli. As one of the best students, particularly in drawing, he dropped his first academic year. Being extremely busy with the work he liked, he took his academic troubles lightly. Working on illustrations, caricatures, posters and graphic design, he became one of the best, and his work appeared in the editions of papers and magazines like Jutarnji list, Novosti, Koprive, Ženski svijet, Kulisa.
In 1935, he created his first comic Vjerenica Mača, which was published in the Zagreb newspaper Novosti. In the same year Maurović co-launched Oko, the first Yugoslav comics magazine.
Maurović collaborated with many eminent Croatian writers and screenplay writers, such as Franjo Fuis. He also drew his illustrations based on literary models of classic world writers and novelists like Alex Tolstoy, Zane Grey, August Šenoa, Jack London, B. Traven, Max Brand, and H. G. Wells.
It is difficult to describe the total number of his professions and activities. Maurović was recognized as a successful designer of posters within socialist realism production at a time when poster propaganda was much more important than today. He was a painter of seascapes and apocalyptic scenes, caricaturist, illustrator, preacher and comic strip sketcher. At a time when there was no pornography in any medium, Maurović published a series of drawings alluding to extramarital and marital relations. He lived a life of his own creation and created a great number of impressive comic strip heroes and personalities (like Dan, Old Tom-cat, Radoslav). His works are part of the Sudac Collection.
Being in all the world encyclopaedias and publications on comics, he has earned his eminent place in the art of world comics. Numerous editions and reprints of his best works, numerous awards and prizes he has received, the reputation that he achieved is comparable with the achievements and fame of the greatest names and creators of cartoons in the world.
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 had 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.