Sciortino exhibition to mark Small Nations Games

Heritage Malta, in collaboration with the Ministry for Youth and the Arts, is organising an exhibition of sculptures by Antonio Sciortino to mark the Xth Games of the Small States of Europe.

The exhibition, aptly entitled The Joy of Movement, runs from tomorrow until the end of the month at the National Museum of Archaeology, Auberge de Provence, Valletta.

Sculptor Sciortino was born in Zebbug, Malta, in 1879 to a farming family. Following early art studies in Malta he specialised in sculpture and monumental architecture at the Regio Istituto di Belle Arti in Rome where he settled as a professional sculptor and teacher.

Sciortino died in Malta in 1947, having spent the war years working as Curator of Fine Arts. Shortly before his death, he bequeathed a considerable number of his works, including several masterpieces, to the people of Malta. Several of his bronzes were shortly after purchased by the state while a few others are in Maltese private collections.

A number of Sciortino's works are exhibited at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta and some were also shown at the EXPO 70 in Osaka, Japan and Malta Week: Crossroads of Civilisations at the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland in 2001.