Libyan Romano Maraja (Bellinzona, 15 April 1912 – Montorfano, 30 December 1983) was a Swiss illustrator and painter.
Index
Biography
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Years in Switzerland
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Libico Maraja was born on April 15, 1912, the fifth of eight children. The name Libyan was given to him by his father, a convinced nationalist, as he was born to coincide with the war between Italy and Libya. Francesco Maraja, a publicist, moved from Villafranca di Verona to collaborate with the weekly magazines "L'Adula" and "il Dovere", Ticino organs of Italian culture based in Bellinzona. Later, in 1918, he changed residence to collaborate with the Corriere del Ticino, moving to Lugano and becoming a point of reference for the Italian community. Libico revealed his precocious artistic qualities already with his first educational experiences at the Kindergarten in Bellinzona: here, in fact, the postcards designed for the Red Cross and for the Italian soldiers wounded in the war were born, in which the rendering of spatial depth, the representation of proportions and the narrative intent are astonishing. In 1926 he enrolled in the art school attached to the Gymnasium-Lyceum of Lugano, where for two consecutive years, 1928 and 1929, he won the "Maraini" prize for drawing and the "Bariffi" prize for plastic.
In the period 1932-1940 Maraja opened the advertising graphics studio "ALA" in Lugano, which allowed him to make himself known and appreciated as a valuable creator of posters, postcards, playbills, advertisements and projects for shop windows. His graphic, public, poster and theatrical works were born in an atmosphere of creative fervor with the group of friends who gathered at the "Casa d'Italia" in Lugano. In these same years he participated in the III, IV and V editions of the collective art exhibition organized by the "Cenacolo Italiano", founded in Lugano in 1932. In 1936, however, he was forced to leave Switzerland following his father accused of plotting for the irredentism of Ticino. He moved to Como.
Years between Como and Milan
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In 1938 he illustrated his first children's book: "La storia di Cicc", by Alma Chiesa, while the following year he married Chiara Colombo, daughter of a well-known musician, who in 1940 gave birth to their first son, Marzio.
In the same year he moved to Milan. He collaborates with the company IMA Pubblicità, for which he illustrates record covers and musical scores for the Messaggerie Musicali as well as two fairy tales for the Alpe publishing house. The experience as a graphic designer in the ALLA studio, the experiments with scenography and theatrical costumes created for the Casa d'Italia, were for Libico Maraja a precious wealth of experience that would come in handy when, in 1941, IMA Pubblicità became IMA Film to make the first Italian full-length film with animated drawings in color: "The Rose of Baghdad", by Anton Gino Domeneghini. [1] Maraja is appointed chief set designer and cartoonist. The contract with IMA will be one of the most precious moments for the improvement of the profession and for what will be the choice of future life. His art is enriched and is increasingly characterized by an imaginative ingenuity and by the progressive evolution and specialization of technique.
In 1947, after a period of separation following the end of the war, the Maraja family, joined in 1946 by little Francesco, moved to Moltrasio. He begins to illustrate the covers of the Pigna notebooks. In 1950 he illustrated "Il mio mondo", the first color subsidiary published in Italy on behalf of the Società Editrice Cinematografica. Two years later, in 1952, he began collaborating with the Fabbri publishing house. This relationship lasted until Maraja's death and gave rise to a very rich production, in which "The Adventures of Pinocchio" stood out in 1955. He also developed comics for Arnoldo Mondadori Editore in the series of the adventures of "Faust and Metistofele" and the first illustrated classics for Editore Conte, then for Carroccio and Aristea, then for Baldini & Castoldi, all from the Lombard capital.
In 1954 he returned to Como, a place where he intensified among his various activities that of easel painter, deepening his research in the field of Como abstractionism together with Rho, Radice, Badiali, Galli and Salardi. He is appreciated for his caricatures of political satire in "Ol Tivan", a weekly magazine in Como and its province.
International consecration
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In 1961 he created the winning sketch for the competition organized by the Italian Post Office for the commemorative stamp of the 19th centenary of the birth of Pliny the Younger, issued on May 27 of the same year. In those years he achieved international fame, in the field of illustration, for the interpretative ability of some of the best-known fairy tales: "The Christmas Carol", "Sindbad the sailor", "Gulliver's Travels", "Moby Dick" and eight of the "Sound Fairy Tales" that can be considered the most significant examples of the achieved artistic and narrative awareness. He collaborates in illustrating Tutte le fiabe. In 1966 he illustrated with 38 black and white plates "The Betrothed" in the Como vernacular written by his friend Piero Collina.
Later years
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In 1981 the Japanese publishing house Shogakukan awarded the artist from Como, through Fabbri, a special prize for the works illustrated in its "Biographies" series. Lima-san, a nickname bestowed on him by Japanese publishers, reluctantly declines the invitation for health reasons. The following year the city of Como dedicated an important anthological exhibition to him including works from 1928 to 1982; on this occasion a large part of his artistic production was cataloged. Lugano also reserves a privileged space for his illustrations of Pinocchio, allowing him to triumphantly return to the city he had had to leave. He created the costumes and sets for the ballet "The Ballad of Pinocchio", performed in Erba.
He died in Montorfano, in the province of Como, on December 30, 1983, at the age of 71, after asking for a pencil and a sheet of paper to trace signs, perhaps words: a last, indecipherable message.
His legacy
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Even today, especially in Como and Lugano, exhibitions of some of his important works are organized. Recently, a Mariaja Archive has also been organized, including many of his paintings and drawings, hosted by the elementary school of Albate.
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