Background
Rubbo, or Dattilo-Rubbo, was born in Naples in 1870 and arrived in Australia in 1897.
Rubbo, or Dattilo-Rubbo, was born in Naples in 1870 and arrived in Australia in 1897.
From 1898 Rubbo taught in Sydney schools including Saint Joseph"s College, Hunters Hill, Kambala, The Scots College and Newington College.
In contrast to nearly all other art teachers in Australia at the time, he was not a reactionary, and encouraged his students to experiment with styles as radically different from his own as post-impressionism and cubism.
He was a flamboyant character who believed in championing his students to the hilt. Indeed, in 1916 he challenged a committee member of the Royal Art Society to a duel because he had refused to hang a post-impressionist landscape by his pupil Roland Wakelin.