Jovan Prokopljević (born December 30, 1940, in

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...

; nicknamed "The Great") is a Serbian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, and

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 ...

. He has been awarded two Pierre awards and the First Prize for cartoons at international competitions in China, Montenegro, and Australia.

Biography

Prokopljević, who currently lives in Zemun, received a bachelor's degree from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

Faculty of Architecture (1967) and worked as an architect. His father was a

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player, and to honor his memory after his death, Prokopljević attended a chess exhibition. At the time, cartoon art had been his hobby, but by 1992 he decided to become a professional cartoonist. He was hired by ''

Politika ( sr-Cyrl, Политика, lit=Politics) is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in Belgrade. Founded in 1904 by Vladislav F. Ribnikar, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the Balkans. Publishing and ownership is publ ...

'' in 1994 and contributed to the paper until 2010. With Zemun cartoonist Predrag Koraksić Corax and others, Prokopljević worked for the newspaper ''Jež''. His work has appeared on magazine covers, such as ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "m ...

''. He was awarded the First Prize, Best Cartoon category, by the Chess Journalists of America in 2004. While Prokopljević is a chess player, he sells cartoon-like chess-themed prints of "gnomish" players at chess tournaments. He is a member of the Association of the Design Artists of Zemun, and the Cartoonist and Writers Syndicate in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He has participated in 45 solo exhibitions and over 400 group exhibits. He earned numerous national and international prizes and awards for his cartoon work, including the Pierre Prize laureate (1994); Second Prize in

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

, (1995); Special Prize, First International contest, Zemun (1996); Special Prize, International Caricature Contest,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

(1996); First Prize, International Contest,

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

(1997); Major Special prize, International Contest,

Kruševac Kruševac ( sr-Cyrl, Крушевац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Rasina District in central Serbia. It is located in the valley of West Morava, on Rasina (river), Rasina river. According to the 202 ...

, Yugoslavia. More recently, his work received the Recognition award, Zemun International Salon of Caricature (2008); the "avord Internet" (Internet award), Guangxi Arts Institute International Cartoon Context, China (2010); Second Prize, First International Press Cartoon and Humor Contest,

Virton Virton (; Gaumais: ''Viertån''; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. It is also the administrative centre of the district (''arrondissement'') of the same name, as well as the principal town ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(2011); and the First Prize, Cyprus International Cartoon Contest (2012). With Aleksandar Matanović, Prokopljević's ''Chess miniatures & caricatures: thirty short games and thirty caricatures'' was published in 2000; with Aleksandar Naftaljevič Koblenc, Blagoje Šestović, and Mihail Nehemjevič Talj, Prokopljević published ''Lekcije šahovske strategije'' in 2005.

References

External links

Jovan Prokopljevic: A Well Known Chess Artist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prokopljevic, Jovan 1940 births Living people People from Zemun Serbian architects Serbian cartoonists Serbian caricaturists University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture alumni