ESSAYS IN NOSTALGIA

We Understand Each Other…

Aleksandar Marks (1922-2002)

A well-known Croatian animator and director of animated film Joško Marušić recalls recently deceased classical artist of the Zagreb School, Aleksandar Marks. Marušić met Marks when Marušić was a young artist full of enthusiasm. Marks predicted the end of the world and destruction of all values. When some of his predictions did not come true (when Marušić’s Fish Eye became an international success or when Krešo Zimonić became a renowned author) he saw it as an argument in favour of the impending end. His attitude was probably greatly influenced by the treatment of tuberculosis that he had to undergo. All he wanted was that everyone left him alone so he and his wife moved to a retirement home at an early age. Still, he was a distinguished gentleman who passionately loved painting. Lingering between two global ideological blocks, Zagreb authors eagerly transferred the ideological massage of the small individual and nonalignment. They also avoided experimentation with techniques and forms, which eventually led to the decline of the Zagreb School. Still, among the fifty true classics of the school stand Marks’ Fly and The Goodhearted Ant, along with his whole filmography shot with Mimica. Once retired, he no longer worked on animation because it was an obstacle to his development as a painter. Aleksandar Marks was involved in animation from its very beginnings in Croatia, but he skipped the era of cartoons. That was the reason why he greatly admired and worried about the career of one of our most ingenious cartoonists, Mirko Ilić. The author does not remember the procedures of Mimica’s directing, but films done with Marks prove that they were an exquisite team. In the following years another team paired up, that of Aleksandar Marks and Vladimir Jutriša, a very distinctive animator.

Joško Marušić