Mario Caria
| Mario Caria | |
 Picture lifted from youtube interview | |
| Biographical information | |
| Born: | May 3, 1934 |
|---|---|
| Died: | September 15, 2001 |
| Nationality: |  Italian
|
| Occupation: | Cover Artist |
| Website: | n/a |
Mario Caria was an Italian artist. He lived and worked in Rome with his wife, Adele and their two daughters, Cristina and Daniela.
Biography
Mario Caria, born in Rome in 1934, was the son of Salvatore Antonio di Torralba and Augusta Zelli di Logna. As a child Mario spent his holidays in Logna with his grandparents, Giuseppe Zelli and Paolina Mattei.
He studied at "Scuola d'Arte Ornamentale" and "l'Accademia del Nudo" and in 1944 he began to practice as an illustrator.
In 1958, he decided to carry out independent and, in addition to illustrating the covers of mainly for "La Guida Editrice". He also began to draw film posters, which he continued to do until 1986. In 1960 he made a lot of promotional material for the Olympic Games in Rome, working at the same time for the publishing industry as a cover artist.
His entry into the world of comics takes place in 1963, when he began his collaboration with the Italian editor Fratelli Spada as their most prolific artist. He illustrated several of their series; "Mandrake", "L’Uomo mascherato", "Cino and Franco", "Flash Gordon", "Prince Valiant", "Air Falcher", "Star Trak", and others. He created hundreds of covers that were most often drawn in an elegant and dynamic way, especially as far as action scenes are concerned. At the time, the global aspect of his works in tempera on cardboard was outstanding modern.
Apart his cover illustrating production, Mario Caria also worked on "I Fratelli senza paura", a western comics written by Emilio Fanelli. He also collaborated to various creation activities for Italian movies. In the early 70s he made the sketches for the sets and furnishings for a movie produced by Dino de Laurentiis. One of the works of which he was most pleased with was the sketch of the dome of a church used for the set of a western movie shot in Spain (The Deserter ?).
Since 1976 he illustrated covers for various romance novels and horror. For the TV series "La Banda TV" he created advertising material for travel agencies, illustrations for the packaging of model cars and covers of videotapes for the German market. Around 1985 he began working with the publisher “Ediperiodici” making covers in tempera. In later years he made covers for “Play Press”.
Mario Caria did have a passion for oil paintings, and most of these works were intended for private collectors.
Sources
- Giuseppe Pollicelli - "Mario Caria, copertine e turbamenti, raffinati e scandalosi" - "Fumetti d'Italia" n° 12 ago/set. 1994
Mandrake the Magician work by Mario Caria
- Italian issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- Argentine issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- Brazilian issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- Chilian issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- French issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- Greek issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- Mexican issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- Portugese issues with covers by Mario Caria can be viewed here.
- Mario Caria drawnings for covers can be viewed here.
- Other Mandrake illustrations by Mario Caria can be viewed here.