Honestly, I don't know that much about Antonio Augusto Rubino. From the scant information that I've been able to gather, he was a seminal figure in Italian cartoon art, as well as being a writer, a poet, a potter, a journalist, a composer and songwriter. He was apparently educated as a lawyer, but the creativity bug bit him, and it took over the rest of his life. He was monstrously prolific.
What strikes me most about artists like Rubino, some of these that I find while doing research for these posts, is that there are a lot of geniuses that go unknown to the vast majority of humans. I know this lesson from music, but for some reason the point seems more stark in the visual arts.
He seems very much a product of his era; that florid and lovely Art Nouveau style, alive with colour and panache...back when everything was done by hand, and illustrators had to have a huge variety of skills so get a paycheck. What a craftsman.
What strikes me most about artists like Rubino, some of these that I find while doing research for these posts, is that there are a lot of geniuses that go unknown to the vast majority of humans. I know this lesson from music, but for some reason the point seems more stark in the visual arts.
He seems very much a product of his era; that florid and lovely Art Nouveau style, alive with colour and panache...back when everything was done by hand, and illustrators had to have a huge variety of skills so get a paycheck. What a craftsman.
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