Nicola Rubino

Nicola Rubino (3 April 1905 – 25 February 1984) was an Italian sculptor and painter.

Biography

He was the son of Francesco and Caterina Cudia and attended the Classical Lyceum in his native Alcamo. In 1925, aged only 20, he moved to Rome to study at Accademia di Belle Arti together with different artists of Scuola romana like Mafai, Omiccioli, Fazzini and Gentilizi; in Rome he had a close friendship with artists and intellectuals like Sarra, Guttuso and Fellini. and of the international sculpture of the 20th century. His works, besides being present in various Italian cities, are exhibited in museums and private collections in Italy and abroad; a valuable collection is kept and exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alcamo, inside the l'ex Collegio dei Gesuiti.

His very rich artistic production, from the second half of the 1920s to the beginning of the 1980s, was created inside his studio in via Margutta. He liked female figures, that also come back in his paintings realized by Rubino in the last period of his activity, in which he uses a symbolical natural style.

In 1942 he took part in the fourth Rome Quadriennale and in 1948 in the Rassegna d'arte figurativa (Exposition of figurative art) of Rome. In 1952 he took part in the fifth Rome Quadriennale and in the XXVI Venice Biennale and his works were then exhibited in foreign countries, among which there were Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

Between 1953 and 1959 he participated at the Mostra d'arte del Mezzogiorno (Southern Italy Art Exhibition) of Rome (1953), Naples (1953 and 1954) where he is assigned the prize Salvator Rosa, and then at the International Medal Exhibition (Palazzo Venezia in Rome).

In 1963 he took part in the Exposition of Figurative Arts of Rome and Lazio and, with two of his works, at the Contest Exhibition of Figurative Arts of INPS (National Social Insurance Agency); besides he realized fifteen medals that he showed at the "International Exhibition of contemporary religious medal" (Palazzo Braschi in Rome) and five medals at the "Exposicion de la medalla actual" of Madrid (1964).

Between 1964 and 1973 Rubino won 5 competitions and realized the bronze and marble bas-reliefs for the buildings of Lecce, Campobasso, EUR, Rome, Syracuse and Cuneo. The bas-relief at the Inps of Rome represents an idealized vision of work: you can see rural and handcraft life, with a proletarian family in the middle: Rubino wants to intend work as unity and social redemption of it.

In 1965 he participated, with 5 works, at the IX Rome Quadriennale and exhibited in Paris, nine medals at the Exposition "La medalle italienne à la Monnale de Paris". Two years later he presented nine medals at the Exhibition of French, Italian and Spanish Medal (Palazzo Braschi) in Rome.

Then his works were exhibited in Rome in 1972, as a retrospective at the gallery Il Camino, and in 1973 at the Club Internazionale dell'Antiquariato (Antiques). In 1977 Nicola Rubino showed his pictures, in his first painting retrospective, at the Gallery "San Marco" of Rome.

After his death in Rome, his wife and two children ordered that some of his works were donated to the municipality of Alcamo, with the obligation of allocating them in the museum inside the Castle of the Counts of Modica; as a whole, la collezione è composta, oltre a 10 tele, di 27 opere, tra gessi e bronzi, the collection is made up, apart 10 paintings, of 27 works (bronzes and plasters) created between the 1950s and 1960s, and testify how Nicola Rubino always tried the naturalness of shape, of movement: the Dancer, the Woman combing herself, the Pharaoh's bather, the Mother with a child are some examples of this.

There are also the allegorical figures: Justice (bronze bas-relief openwork), Lady Luck, Woman with a dove (plasters), The winged horse (a bronze), and finally, the religious themes, like Mater Ecclesiae (plaster) and the Stations of the Cross with four figures (bronze bas-relief).

In 1999 they entitled the Exhibition Room of Centro Congressi Marconi of Alcamo to Nicola Rubino, and on 20 April 2007 they inaugurated the plaster casts gallery, dedicated to the sculptor, inside the Castle of the Counts of Modica di Alcamo, later moved to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alcamo at the ex Collegio dei Gesuiti.

Rubino's sculpture and painting His works are characterized by an elegant and linear style; Rubino, in the realization of his sculptures, utilized different materials: plaster, bronze, marble or clay that he was able to model in an admirable way, giving shape to figures which recall the classical world and above all, the Hellenic one. As the scholar Gioacchino Aldo Ruggieri affirms, Nicola Rubino can be defined a neoclassical artist because his vision of art is a search for an accomplished beauty, like the one expressed by Canova or Foscolo.

There is a tight correlation between his sculpture and his painting: according to Franco Miele, Rubino reveals the same ability in modelling a statue or using colour; he is able to express everything with a linear simplicity in both things. His works are exhibited in some galleries (Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Rome, Museo di Roma etc.), and in several private collections.

Works Atleta e gruppo Fontana dei Centauri, Foro Italico in Rome, 1940, marble Madonna dell'Assunta, Cathedral of Messina, 1947, marmble statue Via Crucis, Cathedral of Pantelleria, 1952, bronze Acrobati, a bronze group, Naples Madonna, Chiesa di Santa Chiara in Rome, 1955, bronze Portal of stazione di Santa Lucia di Venezia, 1956, Istrian stone 7 Stations of the Cross, Chiesa di Santa Maria della Mercede in Rome, 1957, bronze La Crocifissione, station of, Chiesa parrocchiale di Avilla di Buia (Udine), 1959 Bronze bas-relief, Istituto Tecnico "Maffeo Pantaleoni" of Rome, 1959 Panel and ceramics tiles to be attached to the buildings of INA-CASA, 1959 Cielo d'Alcamo alla corte di Federico II, bas-relief, Porta Palermo of Alcamo, 1961, bronze Vita attiva della città di Alcamo, bronze bas-relief, Porta Palermo in Alcamo, 1961 Cristo Lavoratore, Cittadella Cristiana di Assisi, 1961, bronze bas-relief Battesimo di Gesù, Fonte battesimale, Chiesa di S. Gregorio VII in Roma, 1962, bas-relief bas-relief, INPS building of Lecce, 1964, marble bas-relief, INPS building of Campobasso, 1964, marble bas-relief, INPS building Rome EUR, 1969, marble bas-relief, INPS building of Syracuse, 1970, bronze bas-relief, INPS building of Cuneo, 1973, bronze Some of his works, realized between the 1950s and 1960s, are exhibited in the plaster cast gallery at the ex Collegio dei Gesuiti in Alcamo; these are the most important:

Dancer, marble Woman combing herself, marble Pharao's bather, marble Mother with child, marble Justice, bronze bas-relief, openwork Lady Luck, plaster Woman with a dove, plaster The winged horse, bronze Mater Ecclesiae, plaster Stations of the Cross with four figures, bronze bas-relief Statue with a winged horse, bronze Rural and pastoral life, bronze bas-relief, openwork

Recognitions 1952: a prize at the Exhibition of Frosinone and a bronze plaque as the winner of a contest proclaimed by Italcable 1953: prize in the competition for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner 1954: prize Salvator Rosa, Naples 1957: important appreciation at Premio Avezzano 1959: important appreciation at the Exhibition of Figurative Arts of Rome and Lazio 1968: gold metal at the Exhibition of the artists' trade union of Turin 1968: silver tablet and a cup at the Sculpture Exposition at the Casale dell'Arte di Ladispoli