Modern Artistic Sensibilities in Maltese Art - The Exhibition

Recently Heritage Malta has invited me to what I consider as a major event when it comes to reassess Modern Art in Malta. I was present to the official book launch of ‘Pioneers of Modern Art in Malta’ written by Prof Joseph Paul Cassar. This event was accompanied by an exhibition entitled ‘Modern Artistic Sensibilities in Maltese Art’, also curated by Prof Cassar.  The exhibition featured Modern works of art from the National Collection and it was held at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Malta.

Heritage Malta in collaboration with Prof Cassar, organised an onsite lecture, in which Prof Cassar revisited a good number of the works exhibited.  His lecture was a very detailed and inspiring one.  


On a personal note, during this lecture, I recalled my past days at the UOM Junior College and University of Malta when I used to attend Prof Cassar’s enriching and well-prepared lectures.

Prof Cassar, who is reputed to be one of the major scholars on Modern art in Malta, in his book, sheds light on the Maltese modern artistic sensibility and states as follows:

“History makes it apparent that modern sensibility in the realm of the visual arts in Malta is a belated experience. This does not take away the efforts brought about through a group effort mainly by the Modern Art Circle, Atelier ’56, The Modern Art Group, The Artists’ Guild, Spectrum ’69 and Vision ’74...”

Biographical note:

Prof Joseph Paul Cassar is a practising artist, art historian, art critic, curator and educator. He was a decisively inspiring academic spearheading the formation of a generation of Maltese scholars, educators and professionals in the field before moving to University of Maryland University College where he is currently Professor of Art. He is also engaged in designing dynamic online art courses for the New York Times Knowledge Network. Professor Cassar is also one of the Malta National Museum of Fine Arts'  internationally acclaimed consultants and advisors.