Rotundo, Massimo - 1 Original Illustration - Ex-Libris Eroticis - Rococò - 1986

Original Ex-Libris Eroticis IllustrationDrawing, (1986), titled “Rococò,” by the Italian artist, illustrator, and cartoonist Massimo Rotundo!

Oil on Large Glazed Paper.

The panel is signed!

The series “Ex Libris Eroticis” is a famous collection of erotic illustrations and comics that revisits past erotic literature and art through a modern perspective created by Italian artist Massimo Rotundo in the 1980s.

The series was originally published in the 1980s in magazines such as L’écho des Savanes and later collected in volumes by various publishers, Glittering Images, Blue Press, L’Integrale.

The work stands out for a refined style that recalls the atmospheres of Art Nouveau (Liberty style) and the fin-de-siècle decadence.

The series gathers short stories and illustrations that explore themes of pleasure, lust, and sensuality, often set in historical or aristocratic contexts.

The term “Ex Libris” refers to customized labels that book collectors used to paste in their volumes. In Rotundo’s context, it evokes the idea of a private collection of forbidden and precious stories.

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Massimo Rotundo is an Italian comics artist, illustrator, and painter.
After attending the Academy of Fine Arts and graduating in decoration, he debuted as a comics artist collaborating with Eura Editoriale in 1978 on the magazine Lanciostory, drawing comics and covers. He soon gained notice and his name began appearing on several other magazines such as Heavy Metal and L’Écho des Savanes.

Around the early 1980s, the golden age of author-driven comic magazines, Rotundo alternates his collaborations across various titles. After Eura’s weekly issues, Rotundo briefly lands on L’Eternauta and, in issue 12 of the February 1983 magazine, publishes L’ultimo viaggio a Delos, a short color science fiction story of just four panels with texts by Maria Teresa Contini. After this brief stint Rotundo returns to the magazine’s pages only ten years later with Tigre Tigre, another science fiction comic this time written by Riccardo Barreiro.

In the same period he debuts in the seventh issue of Orient Express in January 1983 with the fascinating comic story Il Pescatore, with scripts by Riccardo Barreiro, a science fiction tale about a possible future devastated by human imprudence, and later, again in Orient Express, he publishes Il detective senza nome with a script by Luigi Mignacco starting from issue 17 of the December 1983 magazine. Both comics were later reprinted in the Gli albi di Orient Express collection. In Orient Express issue 26, November 1984, again with Barreiro’s texts, he creates the short story of private investigator Lou Alcaide titled Un drago sull’autostrada. Meanwhile he collaborates with numerous fashion and costume magazines but also with comics like Glamour and Diva.

In 1985 he begins collaborating with the magazine Comic Art with the story La città del non ritorno on texts by Giuseppe Ferrandino. The collaboration with the magazine lasts long and will see the birth of some important characters. On Comic Art will appear the six episodes that make up the comic Esotica, created in collaboration with Franco Saudelli for the L’Espresso Più supplement starting from May 1987. In January 1987, in Comic Art issue 29, Sera Torbara debuts, a historical-setting comic with complex characters and captivating plots, with its first episode: Il volo degli dei. The protagonist, Sera Torbara, is an officer of the Ottoman army, a deserter and murderer. Following will come Le lacrime di Giuda starting from Comic Art issue 60 in October 1989 and Marcia turca, a series of five short stories published starting from issue 66 of Comic Art in April 1990, consisting of Barcarola, Gavotta, Allegro, Quadriglia, and Gran finale, which are in fact a prequel to the events narrated in the first episode. Also in Comic Art from issue 66 of April 1990 appears the character Tovarisc Nina, scripted and drawn by Rotundo, defined by the author as the Perestroika comic, a curious pseudocommunist-tinged setting with fascinating, and undressed, female soldiers with nothing but interest in war. The first episode, titled Guerra calda, shows a near future in which Russia has not collapsed and the USSR is still standing.

Rotundo also contributed to the multi-artist comic Rudy X published starting from Comic Art issue 37, October 1987; the series, produced by Comic Art itself, involved several authors handling different aspects of the comic. Rotundo focused on studying the look, features, and clothing of the characters while the other involved authors were Traini, Pedrazzi, Saudelli, Coletta, Torti.

For the French publisher Albin Michel he published in 1988 the erotic series Ex Libris Eroticis, which made him known and appreciated in France. These are very short stories where erotism is linked to the history and culture of the settings, each time consisting of a different city chosen as a backdrop, reinterpreting in comics early twentieth-century erotica and illustration. The comic was later reprinted in the adult comics magazine Blue, starting from issue 4 in April 1991, titled Atlante Erotico. It was then reissued in volume with the original title Ex Libris Eroticis. Rotundo’s collaboration with Blue began even earlier, from the very first issue of the magazine, including drawing the cover of Blue’s first issue in January 1991. For Blue he would also create the Chinagirl series, still erotica but with a more exotic setting, the Far East.

He was also appreciated for his graphic adaptations of literary works, notably La peau de Zigrino, a Balzac novel; Pasolini, based on scripts by Jean Dufaux; and The Greek myths; as well as Luciano De Crescenzo.

Since 1998 he has been a member of Sergio Bonelli Editore’s roster, involved from the early stages of the new Brendon character, created by Claudio Chiaverotti, for which he produced some episodes, including the first, Nato il 31 febbraio del giugno 1998. The series is set in a desolate post-nuclear future and Brendon is a knight-errant, classic, spotless and fearless. From issue 46 Rotundo was also entrusted with the covers of the series up to that point, previously by Corrado Roi. Since 2007 he has also been cover artist for the miniseries Volto Nascosto, created by Gianfranco Manfredi for Sergio Bonelli Editore, as well as drawing some episodes.

For magazines such as Métal Hurlant, Torpedo, Sette, with which he has collaborated, Rotundo has also produced short, standalone stories.

He also collaborated with writer Giuseppe Ferrandino as a comic artist for Nero and Sandokan.

Among his more recent works, produced directly in volume, is the horror-flavored saga Prediction (scripted by Pierre Makyo and colored by Emanuele Tenderini), currently at its second episode and published by Delcourt.

Rotundo is also a founder and teacher at the Scuola Romana dei Fumetti and works in cinema and theatre. In cinema he has collaborated as an illustrator with costume designer Milena Canonero on numerous films and theatrical works. He has worked as a sketch artist for Paul Verhoeven’s Crusade, Julie Taymor’s Titus (Oscar-nominated for costumes), Joe Johnston’s Wolfman, and Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. In animation he did character design for the series Ulisse. Il mio nome è Nessuno (Kineo-Diamonds Cartoon On The Bay Award at Venice Film Festival 2012) produced by RAI and The Animation Band.

Among his awards, in 1990 the Yellow Kid for Best Italian Illustrator at the Lucca International Comics Fair and in 1992 the F.M. prize from Trani, Foiano city.

Rotundo is also a painter, a pursuit he signs with the pseudonym “Max Grecoriaz.” In 2015 he drew for Sergio Bonelli Editore the Texone No. 30 “Tempesta su Galveston,” written by Pasquale Ruju.

In 2018 he won the Romics Gold Award for lifetime achievement, in which Martin Freeman and Tsukasa Hōjō were also honored.

In 2021 he drew for Sergio Bonelli Editore the special maxi Tex No. 29 “Mississipi Ring.”

In February 2024, Tex alla francese No. 18 titled “Bounty Hunters,” with texts by Pasquale Ruju, was released by Sergio Bonelli Editore, on which Rotundo handled drawings, colors, and the cover.