Norman Rubington (1921-1991) was a sculpture, painter, collage, printmaker, illustrator, filmmaker, and author. He studied at Yale from 1939 to 1943 when he left to serve in World War II in the Army Corps of Engineers training in map-making for military intelligence. In 1946, after his service was complete, Rubington left for Paris to study at École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière under the GI Bill, one of the first to use it in France.
A painter of considerable prominence and commercial success, his work was regularly exhibited throughout Paris, Rome, and New York. He was a founding member with Carmen D'Avino of Galerie Huit, the first American cooperative gallery in Europe. He exhibited with the best young French artists of the day--Bernard Buffet, André Minaux, Roger Montane, as well as American painters Sidney Geist, Bill Rivers and Jules Olitsky.
Rubington lived in Paris and in the Bowery in New York for most of his life. He also lived in Rome and worked at the American Academy frequently traveling to renown artists' studios such as Marino Marini in Milan, among others.
Included in his many prestigious awards are the Prix de Rome (1951), Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant (1954), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1958), a MacDowell Fellowship (1970), and he was about to be honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York when he died.
Rubington was also a Beat Generation writer using the nom de plume, "Akbar del Piombo". Well known for his satirical works on socially and politically relevant subjects, he became involved with the group of expatriate American, and a few British, figures that included literary greats who edited the Paris Review, Merlin and other periodicals. This group was eventually assembled by Maurice Girodias for his Olympic Press that published both erotica and literature.
Rubington's unique style of animation became the forerunner of Monty Python's Flying Circus. His collages and manuscripts are included in the Bienecke Rare Book Room and Manuscript Library of Yale University and his paintings are included in the permanent collections of many major museums and private collections worldwide.
Posthumously, he has had several museum exhibits including a retrospective of his work at the Berman Museum, Widener University Museum, and University of Southern Florida. Scholarly research of his writing and films is being conducted at Willamette University. His oeuvre is housed in suburban Philadelphia and is represented exclusively by SBFA: Santa Bannon / Fine Art Gallery, Bethlehem, PA. A full feature biopic is currently in produced by the SBFA and was released mid 2016.
