One of Aligi Sassu’s works on display.The Aligi Sassu (1912-2000) ‘Memories on paper’ exhibition was set up on the occasion of the first centenary of the artist’s birth.
Someone has been doing his homework badly. One expects better from our National Museum of Fine Arts- Charlene Vella
This is stated on the notice at the entrance to the exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta. The notice gives the dates as 1912-2012, which leads the visitor into thinking that Sassu passed away in 2012, since no other information about the artist is available.
As if this mis-information was not enough, the Heritage Malta website ‘Current events’ section, gives Sassu’s death date as 2003.
Someone has been doing his homework badly. One expects better from our National Museum of Fine Arts. We are not talking about a parochial museum where, perhaps one can close one eye on such careless mistakes. Here we are taking about Malta’s National Gallery, and that makes it a different story.
Sassu deserved better. The son of one of the founders of the Italian Socialist Party, he co-authored in 1928 with the Manifesto della Pittura with Bruno Munari, and moved in futurist circles, being personally acquainted with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944), the founder of the futurist movement.
This is not the place to enter into his anti-fascist and leftist political affiliations, but it should be noted that, ideological dogmas apart, he was in the 1970s dedicated a room in the gallery of modern art at the Vatican museum.
Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi and Dante’s Divina Commedia were also a perennial source of inspiration. Worthy of note is the 150 square metre ceramic mural I Miti del Mediterraneo for the new building of the European Parliament, Brussels.
The NMFA exhibition does not do Sassu justice. He was, as you would have gathered, a significant artist who was constantly evolving, and who turned to primitivism when futurism was no longer in vogue.
It is sad that no information about him is available at the exhibition. When I asked at the reception desk for an exhibition booklet, I was told there should be some in the exhibition room.
There were none, and nobody bothered to bring me any. I could have called the curator and asked for a catalogue, but shouldn’t these be available to anybody who visits the exhibition?
It is possible I visited the exhibition on a bad day. Or maybe, the organisers want to leave it to the visitors to guess that, for example, the 1939 Studio per Battaglia ink drawing is very much influenced by Gericault and Delacroix, and that the Caffe drawings on display reflect Parisian cafés which Sassu executed during a stay in the city.
The exhibition is being called a major exhibition, which it is, even though the 20 works on display – consisting mainly of drawings and sketches - are not among Sassu’s best. There has not been enough effort placed on promoting it as a ‘major’ exhibition, or at least, providing correct information.
The Amici dell’Arte di Aligi Sassu and Archivio Aligi Sassu have presumably chosen the NMFA as a prestigious venue for this centenary exhibition. The NMFA has disappointingly not risen to the occasion.
The exhibition will now be proceeding to Besana di Brinaza in Monza, Italy.
After the Sassu exhibition, I proceeded to the NMFA courtyard to another exhibition, Kenneth Grima’s ‘Polarities’, where an exhibition leaflet was available.
There is something called a museum experience, or in this case an exhibition experience, that on this visit was severely lacking, and this very much dampened my spirits. I was not enjoying my visit to the NMFA, and perhaps this is why I am going to lament on ‘Polarities’ too.
Grima is exhibiting wall hung and freestanding ceramics. The latter are the more interesting, and very much reminiscent of quadrupeds. The wall-hung pieces, such as Triptych, are inventive, but seem to lack finesse.
Grima has a vast list of exhibitions to his name, but as often happens with ceramists, his compositions reflect ancient civilisations and religions. Perhaps this is the result of the medium. It is however no justification. It is easier to stick to the familiar, but is so much bolder and refreshing to take the leap and create change. This, I feel, is a severe hindrance that ceramists seem to inevitably face.
Unfortunately, on this occasion, I left the NMFA feeling uninspired. My hope is that it was just a one-off bad occasion.
Aligi Sassu (1912-2000) ‘Memories on Paper’ is open in the Contemporary Room of the National Museum of Fine Arts until May 31, while Kenneth Grima’s ‘Polarities’ is open in the courtyard of the same museum until next Sunday.