E.V. Borg reviews the diverse collective currently showing at the Malta Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
The Malta Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce concluded its programme of cultural and artistic events marking its 160th anniversary with the opening of a grand exhibition of its private art collection of Old Masters at its premises in Valletta.
Important documents are exhibited alongside some of its choicest works, bought or donated by local and foreign artists. The exhibition is highly relevant, documenting the society’s rich history, and is professionally presented.
This wonderful exhibition concludes a packed programme of cultural and artistic events that included exhibitions by Enzo Frascione, Luciano Schifano, the Silver Palette Art Competition, the NovoNoveArt Exhibition, the 11th Annual National Art Exhibition, and that by Harry Alden and Ġanni Bonnici.
The society also organised a jazz evening by Dominic Galea and Friends in its roofed courtyard and, as a special gift to its members, a performance by the outstanding violinist Carmine Lauri at the Casino Maltese in Valletta.
The exhibition is dominated by important sculptural works that demonstrate the importance of an academic approach to composition and design.
The best names in the artistic movement after Cardona’s class feature in the exhibition: Antonio and Francesco Saverio Sciortino, Vincent Apap, Ignazio Cefai, John Spiteri Sacco and Ġanni Bonnici, and among the painters the most noted are Giuseppe Calì, Oscar Testa, Anton Inglott, Emvin Cremona and Joseph Briffa.
Perhaps the most outstanding work is Antonio Sciortino’s Les Gavroches, a romantic expression in the Impressionist manner of Medardo Rosso mixed with the tragic realism of Rodin in dynamic diagonals that radiate from the eyes of the protagonists, poor urchins in Paris streets.
In contrast are the works by Inglott, a mystic and sublime Sacred Heart of Jesus imbued with a powerful psychic spirituality and that of Cremona in a romantic and sentimental stance. The male nude by Testa in a warm academic stance contrasts with that of Briffa’s frontal, standing figure, natural and realistic.
Other memorable works are Apap’s bust of Sir Winston Churchill executed in quick time and so fresh that the modelling with fingers and thumbs seems as if done yesterday, and the monument to Calì, imposing and dominant.
The representation of Cefai and of Francesco Saverio Sciortino is a rare occurrence and the several works of Spiteri Sacco remind us of this great romantic sculptor whose bronze works decorate the altar in the choir of St Paul Shipwrecked church in Valletta.
The exhibition also presents recent acquisitions of works by Frascione, Schifano and George Scicluna, who have recently exhibited at the society’s premises, along with the works by Vincenzo Maria Pellegrini, Salvu Mallia and Eman Grima donated years ago.
Some space is dedicated to performing artists: Giuseppe Satariano, Paul Asciak and Oreste Kirkop, while certain rare photographs and documents in glass cases reflect the long history of the society, its founders, its presidents and particular classes of students such as Cefai’s class of circa 1950.
The exhibition is being held at Palazzo de la Salle, 219, Republic Street, Valletta, and is open until January 31.