Antonio Rubino

Edgardo Zaghini explores the work of Italian author, illustrator, cartoonist, animation director, poet and playwright.

When you come across books from other countries that are strikingly beautiful, it makes you wonder why you haven’t heard of that particular book, author or illustrator before! This is the case with Antonio Rubino, who is not very well-known outside his native Italy and who deserves wider international recognition.  This article aims to introduce Rubino to a wider audience with the hope that some of his outstanding works will be translated and published in English. Some of his picture books have already been translated into Spanish and French.

                         

Rubino was a multifaceted artist that excelled as an author, illustrator, cartoonist, animation director, poet and playwright. He was born in 1880 in Sanremo, a town in Liguria, probably better known as a holiday destination and for the popular music festival that takes place there every year. Rubino’s style was unique and his artwork was strongly inspired by the Art Nouveau movement from England and illustrators such as Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) made a strong impression on him. In Italy, the Art Nouveau movement is known as Liberty.  One of Rubino’s first publications was a volume of poetry illustrated with images that are typical of this art movement that flourished in Europe before the outbreak of WWI. The book in question is Versi e Disegni (Verses and Designs) published in 1911. Please note the ‘floral’ design of the cover of the book is typical of the Liberty movement.

Remarkably Rubino never had any formal training as an artist and he was completely autodidact. Everything he knew he taught himself. As a child, Rubino had two main passions: running freely in the countryside and looking at illustrations in books. At the age of four, and before he had even learnt to read, he was able to recite the third act of Dante’s Divine Comedy. At six he illustrated his own stories which were created in small vignettes or squares like the ones found in his later comic pages. In the summertime, Rubino spent his time looking after sheep and observing and learning about nature.

His most outstanding literary output can be found in his work for the Corriere dei Piccoli a weekly magazine for children published in Italy from 1908 to 1995 and the collection of children’s books, originally published by the Italian house Scalpendi who re-issued a series of these colourful picture books in 2015.

Great Italian personalities such as writer and journalist Italo Calvino and film director Federico Fellini were big fans of Rubino’s work, as they remembered growing up reading the weekly supplements as he dominated the scene of children’s book illustration in Italy during the first half of the 20th Century.

Another illustrator who dominated the scene at this time was Attilio Mussino, better known for the illustrations of the classic Italian children’s book The Adventures of Pinocchio. The characteristics of both Rubino and Mussino’s work were produced in the style of the comic-book format but without speech bubbles, instead having a couple of sentences below each illustration, most of the time written in rhyme.

Antonio Rubino’s work for the Corriere dei Piccoli

Rubino’s output was prolific, and as mentioned earlier, he created stories and illustrations for Corriere dei Piccoli.  This weekly supplement, specifically produced for children, was published simultaneously with the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Below are some of the characters and stories Rubino created:

Quadratino

Quadratino was one of the earlier works for the Corriere dei Piccoli and it first came out in 1909. Quadratino is the name of the character, a boy with geometrical proportions.  Quadrato in Italian means ‘square’ and the ‘ino’ is a diminutive, so Quadratino becomes ‘little square’ and his mum is ‘Geometria’ (geometry). Quadratino has a mischievous personality and always tries to get food that he’s not allowed, such as biscuits, cakes and fruit; but each time he has an accident and his head changes shape: a triangle, circle and so on. The story was devised as a way to teach geometry to children by approaching the subject in a fun and enjoyable way. Italian children’s books at the time tended to be educational and were also an instrument to teach moral conduct and good manners aiming to teach children to distinguish between what was socially acceptable and what wasn’t.

Pino and Pina   

For me, Pino and Pina is the most successful and original of all of Rubino’s creations. It is a series about two children who always arrive late for school and sometimes, when they finally reach their educational establishment, find that the building is already shut for the day.  Most of the time their delay is due to circumstances beyond their control such as when the children walk towards their school and a fireman mistakes them for survivors of a house fire taking them away or when the pavement is blocked by soldiers who are taking part in a public military parade and getting entangled with the strings of a kite. The siblings are full of good intentions and even buy six alarm clocks to ensure they do not oversleep to get to school on time but, alas, even here bad luck follows them when their clocks are stolen during the night by thieves!

           


Piombino and Albertino

Created in 1917, Piombino and Albertino has a nationalistic and patriotic theme that mirrors the political climate of the time (WWI). The story is set in the imaginary town of Legnazia where the inhabitants are made of wood (Legno in Italian means wood). The leader of Legnazia is King Legno (King Wood) who is kind and good and he has a young son prince Albertino. In another town where everyone is made of lead (piombo), reigns Arcipiombo who is a warmonger and his son Piombino spends all his time playing at war. Metal is stronger than wood but when Legnozia is invaded by Piombino, Albertino uses his intelligence to defeat the enemy.

Caro e Cora

Caro e Cora is about two children, a brother and sister, who go to school held in the ‘open air’. It can be assumed that Rubino got his inspiration from the fact that he enjoyed contact with nature and the outdoors. The school is run by Doctor Zaccaria whose method of teaching the children is to use all the resources available outside, such as stones for counting and teaching maths; the blackboard is the trunk of a tree and the sand on the ground is used for writing. Most of the time the lessons go wrong, like when during the maths lesson they use raspberries to count and the children, attracted to the juicy fruit, eat them and end up with stomach ache or when the lesson is about flying and the teacher uses some kites for a demonstration and the children get entangled with the strings. The story follows the structure of the other stories by Rubino with the text written in rhyme and formed of six colour-illustrated vignettes.

Lio and Dado

In Lio and Dado (featuring a sister and brother), the style of illustration had changed and the characters seemed to be much bolder than in Rubino’s previous work. The first world war had a damaging and polarising effect on Italy and with a demoralised population it resulted in social, political and ideological turmoil. Like many of his contemporaries, Rubino echoed the mood of the country. At the height of Mussolini’s popularity and with fascism taking a firm hold with its destruction of the old political and social order, Rubino’s cartoons reflected the widely-held belief of the national rebirth and glory of Italy with its emphasis on order, duty, discipline, hard work and patriotic values.  

Written in 1934, it is obvious today that the story of Lio and Dado is only of historical value due to its controversial context with the main characters frequently displaying the Italian flag, wearing black shirts and in one episode two boys making a fascist salute.

             


Dino Din and Din Dinora

This is the last story produced by Rubino for the Corriere dei Piccoli and it was published in 1955. Illario Dis is a respected scientist who has two children Dino and Din. The story has a science fiction theme and it was written in response to the atomic inventions and discoveries that were in vogue in the 1950s. Here too, like in all the other comics, the siblings get into all sorts of trouble and have adventures, all to do with atoms that either enlarge themselves in size or jump or fly and take the children into the most dangerous situations.


A selection of Rubino’s children’s picture books

In 2015 Scalpendi a publishing house based in Milan re-issued several out-of-print children’s books by Antonio Rubino. Nine titles from the series Bibliotechina pre-scolastica (Small preschool library) and three titles from the series La Scuola dei Giocattoli (The School of Toys) were published all in paperback editions measuring 20x19cm.

Titles from School of Toys:

O di Giotto (O of Giotto)

O di Giotto is a spectacular artistic game that starts with a drawing of a circle and gradually readers see the shape growing physical attributes such as eyes, nose, mouse arms and legs and finally unravelling the finished product, which is that of a painter (hence the name Giotto, the famous Italian artist). Giotto then travels around the world painting objects and people wherever he goes. His drawings encourage the young reader to develop a visual narrative by just looking at the pictures without having to read the text.

Numeretta  

Numeretta is the name of the girl protagonist of this lovely story and a play on the word Numero (number) in Italian. She studies mathematics and starts doing chores around the house and each time she reproduces herself into two, three, four and even one thousand Numerettas! The story is written in verse and there is also a small chapter on geometry and additions.

The other books in the series ‘Small Pre-School Library’ are:

1.    Il Castello D’ABICI (The ABC Castle)   
2.    La Citta di Abaco (City of Abacus)
3.    Re Bife (King Bife)
4.    La Scuola di Scarabocche (School of Doodles)
5.    Io Asino Primo (I, First Donkey)
6.    Il Giardino di Fiorella (Fiorella’s Garden)
7.    Bestie per Bene (Educated Beasts)

It would take too long to review each of the above titles in the Small Pre-School Library series, but it’s important to mention the exceptionally good quality of the illustrations, characterised by the strong use of colours; attractive representation of the characters and clever use of space and design of each double spread.

There are at least two other significant children’s books in Antonio Rubino’s extensive bibliographical list. These are Tic e Tac and Viperetta.

Tic e Tac was first published in 1920 and it is about a clock in the town of Pampalona. In order to remain young forever, all the inhabitants of Pampalona produce toys, but one day the toys get tired of being manhandled by the children and they start to rebel.  If there is a title that can be recommended to English publishers it is this one as it has all the appeal, ingredients and elements of a classic children’s story.

Vipiretta was also published in 1920 and it tells the story of a young girl’s journey to the moon as she endeavours to escape the whirlpool of the adult world that she does not like.

Some of the titles, due to the fact that they were published a long time ago, (some more than 100 years!), may not comply with today’s rigorous editorial criteria, but it is hoped that among this large quantity of books, there will be something that appeals to English-speaking publishers so that a new generation of young readers can enjoy Rubino’s outstanding literary output.

Antonio Rubino died in 1964 at the age of 84. Although his literary works were very popular, none of his children’s fiction books or characters endured the test of time such as other Italian works like Collodi’s Pinocchio or Gianburrasca by Vamba. Perhaps this could be a subject of further study and research for scholars and for those who are passionate about the history of children’s literature and illustration.

November 2022

Ed Zaghini is a Children’s Librarian working at Beckenham Library, Bromley and is also a Co-Founder of Outside in World