For someone who has dedicated the past twenty years researching the ecclesiastical decorative arts in Malta, who has written three theses (undergraduate, Masters and doctoral) on the same subject, and published papers in various local and international publications highlighting this extraordinary field of Maltese artistic endeavour, the name of one of Malta’s most gifted designers at the turn of the 20th century, Abramo Gatt (1863-1944) of Cospicua, has always been regarded as the epitome of design sophistication that Malta achieved at the time.
Moreover, in 2012, the Department of History of Art in the Faculty of Arts introduced a study-unit under my direction dedicated to the decorative arts in the 19th century (ART2151) which also includes a focus on the local scene, including Abramo Gatt. The University also runs another study-unit in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Programme on the Decorative Arts in Malta (LAS2024), which I run bi-annually with Francesca Balzan at the Valletta University Campus and in which Abramo Gatt features prominently.
It is therefore a truly missed opportunity that the exhibition which the Gozo Culture Office at the Ministry for Gozo is currently organising at the Banca Giuratale in Victoria (13 May - 5 June 2016) does not take the matter seriously and approaches it with mediocrity and dilettantism. The small catalogue is edited by Dr Aaron Attard Hili, with text by Paul Cassar. Although there is reference to my 1999 undergraduate dissertation, Cassar totally ignores other later important contributions I made, including my seminal 2014 doctoral thesis.
The unfamiliarity of the organisers with the subject is nowhere better seen than in the wrong attributions and works by other masters which are incredibly given to Gatt. These works were already known and studied by myself in my 1999 dissertation (and later studies). It is incredible how the exhibition includes works by Gatt’s important contemporary Emanuele Buhagiar (1876-1962), by Giuseppe Galea (1911-1993), and also by Mgr Francesco Portelli who as procurator of St George’s parish church had a great admiration for Gatt and tried to design works which are similar to the latter’s. In the exhibition, these are all ascribed to Gatt! There is also a very dubious attribution in the chapter mace of the Xaghra Collegiate chapter which is a mediocre work and whose design is entirely uncharacteristic of Gatt. Another glaring error is the mediocre altar canopy from St George’s parish church (today at Birzebbuga parish church) which was definitely not designed by Gatt.
It is indeed a pity that an artist of Gatt’s calibre has been mishandled is such a poor manner by people who should know much better. The study of the decorative arts, more than in other artistic fields, requires a trained eye and academic expertise which only long years of experience can achieve. It would have been better for the Gozo Culture Office not to let this charade happen in the first place since it is insulting to the art world and misleading to the general public.
Mark Sagona
Visiting Lecturer
Department of History of Art
Faculty of Arts
University of Malta