Rotundo, Massimo - 1 原创插图 - Ex-Libris Eroticis - Rococò - 1986

Illustration Original Ex-Libris Eroticis (1986), titled "Rococò", by the Italian illustrator and comic artist Massimo Rotundo!

Large-format oil on enamelled paper.

The plate is signed!

The series "Ex Libris Eroticis" is a famous collection of erotic illustrations and comics that revisit 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 late 19th-century 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 the personalized labels that book collectors glued into 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 cartoonist, illustrator and painter.
After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts and earning a diploma in decoration, he debuted as a comics artist collaborating with Eura Editoriale in 1978 on the magazine Lanciostory, drawing comics and covers. He was quickly noticed and his name began appearing on several other magazines such as Heavy Metal and l’Écho des Savanes.

Around the early 1980s, a golden period for auteur comics magazines, Rotundo alternated his collaborations among various publications. After Eura’s weekly, Rotundo briefly moved to L'Eternauta and, in issue 12 of the February 1983 magazine, published 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 would return to the magazine’s pages ten years later with Tigre Tigre, another science-fiction comic written this time by Riccardo Barreiro.

In the same period he made his debut in Orient Express, issue seven of January 1983, with the fascinating comics story Il Pescatore, written by Riccardo Barreiro, a science-fiction tale set in a possible future devastated by human imprudence; later, again on Orient Express, he published Il detective senza nome with scripting 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 of November 1984, again with Barreiro texts, he created the short story of private investigator Lou Alcaide titled Un drago sull'autostrada. Meanwhile he collaborated with many fashion and style magazines but also with comics like Glamour and Diva.

In 1985 he began collaborating with the magazine Comic Art with the story La città del non ritorno written by Giuseppe Ferrandino. The collaboration with the magazine would last long and see the birth of some important characters. On Comic Art appear the six episodes that compose the comic Esotica, created in collaboration with friend Franco Saudelli for the supplement L'Espresso Più starting from May 1987. In January 1987, in issue 29 of Comic Art, Sera Torbara debuts, a historical-set comic with complex characters and compelling plots, with its first episode: Il volo degli dei. The protagonist, Sera Torbara, is an officer of the Ottoman army, a deserter and murderer. Followed by Le lacrime di Giuda starting from issue 60 of Comic Art in October 1989 and Marcia turca, a series of five short stories published from issue 66 of Comic Art in April 1990 consisting of Barcarola, Gavotta, Allegro, Quadriglia and Gran finale, which are actually a prequel to the events narrated in the first episode. Also in Comic Art from issue 66 of April 1990 makes his appearance the character Tovarisc Nina, scripted and drawn by Rotundo, which he himself defined as the Perestroika comic, a curious pseudocommunist setting with captivating, and undressed, young women soldiers with no interest in war. The first episode, titled Guerra calda, shows a near future where Russia has not collapsed and the USSR is still standing.

Rotundo also contributed to the multi-authored comic Rudy X published from Comic Art issue 37, October 1987; the series, produced by Comic Art itself, saw several authors handling the different aspects of the comic. Rotundo handled studying the look, physiognomies 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 eroticism blends with the history and culture of settings, each time a different city chosen as the background, reinterpreting in comics the erotical literature and illustration of the early 20th century. The comic was later reprinted in the adult comics magazine Blue, starting from issue 4 of April 1991, under the title Atlante Erotico. It was then reprinted in a volume with the original title Ex Libris Eroticis. Rotundo’s collaboration with Blue began even earlier, from the first issue of the magazine, with the publication of some short stories; among other things Rotundo also did the cover of Blue’s first issue in January 1991. He also produced for Blue the Chinagirl series, still erotica but with a more exotic setting, the Far East.

Subsequently he is also appreciated for his comic adaptations of literary works, among which La pelle di Zigrino, a novel by Honoré de Balzac, Pasolini, based on the scripts by Jean Dufaux and I miti greci. A comic adaptation by Luciano De Crescenzo.

Since 1998 he has been part of the Sergio Bonelli Editore stable, involved from the early stages of the new character Brendon 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 bleak post-atomic future and Brendon is a knight-errant classic without stain and without fear. From issue 46 Rotundo is entrusted with the covers of the series up to that moment by Corrado Roi. Since 2007 he has also been the cover artist of the miniseries Volto Nascosto, created by Gianfranco Manfredi for Sergio Bonelli Editore, as well as the illustrator of some episodes.

For numerous magazines such as Métal Hurlant, Torpedo, Sette with which he collaborated, Rotundo has also produced short and self-contained stories.

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

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

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

Among the awards won, in 1990 the Yellow Kid as best Italian illustrator at the Lucca International Comics Convention and in 1992 the F.M. prize of Trani, the Foiano city.

Rotundo is also a painter, an activity he carries out signing his works 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 d'oro for lifetime achievement where Martin Freeman and Tsukasa Hōjō were also awarded.

In 2021 he drew for Sergio Bonelli Editore the special maxi Tex no. 29 "Mississipi Ring".

In February 2024 he released for Sergio Bonelli Editore the Tex à la française no. 18 entitled "Bounty hunters" with texts by Pasquale Ruju, on which Rotundo handled drawings, colors and the cover.