Slavko Vorkapić

Infobox Person
name =Slavko Vorkapić


image_size =200px
birth_date =March 17, 1894
birth_place =Dobrinci, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Serbia)
death_date =October 20, 1976
death_place =Mijas, Spain

Slavko Vorkapić (born name Slavoljub Vorkapić) (English Slavko Vorkapich, originally in Serbian Cyrillic Славко Воркапић) (March 17 1894 – October 20 1976), was a Serbian-American film director and editor, university professor, painter, and a prominent figure of modern cinematography and film art.

Early life

Slavko Vorkapić was born on March 17 1894 in the small village of Dobrinci near Sremska Mitrovica in Syrmia, Vojvodina (at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, later Yugoslavia, now Serbia). His father Petar, the town clerk, insisted that young Slavko should be well-educated. After finishing his primary education, he became a student in a well-known regional high-school in the nearby town of Sremska Mitrovica, where he made his first steps in art and drawing. (Mileva Marić-Einstein, the first wife and work associate of Albert Einstein went to the same high-school). He continued his high-school education in Zemun and later in the famous "Art School" in Belgrade. With a scholarship received from "Matica srpska", Serbia's highest cultural and scientific institution at the time, Vorkapić went to Budapest, Hungary, where he studied art. At the beginning of World War I he immediately returned to his homeland where, with the country besieged on all sides, he survived the tragic Serbian retreat across Albania in order to reach Allied positions in Greece. From there he sailed to Italy, from where he reached France. He managed to enter "Art Academy" in Paris but soon after moved to Montparnasse among other Avant-garde artists. He took part in the 1917 and 1919 collective painter exhibits.

Career in the United States

Film work

Slavko Vorkapić's dream to go to the United States was fulfilled in 1920. For a short time, he lived in New York City. Then, for almost a year, he roamed the country nearly homeless, until his arrival in Hollywood in July 1921. Although he started his film career as a painter and an actor, he became best-known as a special effects expert, film artist, film teacher, director, editor and became one of the most respected filmmakers in the period between the two World Wars. Vorkapić made a great number of documentaries and experimental films.

Vorkapić co-directed the experimental short film "" (1928) with Robert Florey, and "Moods of the Sea" (1941) and "Forest Murmurs" (1947) with filmmaker John Hoffman (1904-1980).

He is best known for his montage work (see montage sequence) on Hollywood films such as "Viva Villa" (1934), "David Copperfield" (1935), "San Francisco" (1936), "The Good Earth" (1937), and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). In October 2005, the DVD collection "" was released and included a one-minute montage sequence Vorkapich did for the otherwise lost film "Manhattan Cocktail" (1928), directed by Dorothy Arzner.

An effects technique, the "vorkapich", is named after him. His protege, Art Clokey, learned kinescope animation techniques under him and went on to create the "Gumby" animated series.

He was appointed as head of the USC School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California.

In 1938 Vorkapich commissioned modern architect Gregory Ain to build a garden house for his Beverly Hills residence. It was a minor landmark in prefabricated architecture [cite book
last = Denzer
first = Anthony
title = Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary
publisher = Rizzoli Publications
date = 2008
url = http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/results.pperl?title_auth_isbn=denzer&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit
isbn = 0-8478-3062-4] . It has since been destroyed.

During the 1950s he was in Yugoslavia and worked as a professor at the Belgrade "Film and Theatre Academy". In Yugoslavia in 1955 Vorkapić made his last full-length movie "Hanka".

Slavko Vorkapić died of a heart attack in Mijas, Spain, on the estate of his son on October 20 1976.

Two of his many master drawings, his gift during a visit to Yugoslavia, are kept in the "Syrmia Museum" in Sremska Mitrovica. Recent reports say that his descendants are ready to fulfill Vorkapić’s last will and testament to donate the same museum with all of his remaining art drawings.Fact|date=January 2008

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0903465|name=Slavko Vorkapić
*imdb title|id=0048146|title=Hanka
* [http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Vi-Win/Vorkapich-Slavko.html Slavko Vorkapić article on www.filmreference.com]
* [http://www.fueradecampo.cl/filmografias/imagenes/vorkapich.jpgSlavko Vorkapić picture circa 1950]