Renowned Maltese artist Gabriel Caruana passed away on Monday, aged 89.

One of Malta’s foremost and most accomplished artists, the ceramist and sculptor had exhibited his work in Great Britain, USA, Germany, Holland and Italy.

Caruana was born in Balzan, Malta in 1929. He worked in a variety of media, exploiting their possibilities to the fullest extent but he excelled in the medium of ceramics. He was among the pioneers of modern art in Malta and his works found recognition both in Malta and abroad.

He held solo exhibitions in Malta, England, Italy and Switzerland and in group exhibitions in Osaka, Detroit, Munich, Tripoli, London, Israel, Melbourne, and several times in Malta. His works can be found at the International Museum of Ceramics of Faenza, at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, at City of Manchester Art Gallery, and, at the National Museum of Fine Arts Malta.

In an appreciation, Richard England (above, right, with Gabriel Caruana in the 1960s) writes:

With the demise of Gabriel Caruana, Malta has lost its most iconic contemporary artist;an institutional master ceramist and sculptor.  Caruana was an avant-garde, inspirational, innovative, mercurial giant; the last survivor of a group of artists of the likes of the Apap brothers, Cremona, Camilleri, Portelli, Chircop, Mangion, Barthet, Preca and Kalleja who initiated and pioneered Malta’s Modern Art scene in the Renaissance period of the middle of the last century.

Caruana will be remembered as a perennial, ever-active mythical cartographer, who re-invented himself with eachwork, and also for his prodigious and gargantuanoutpour.  Above all, one will recall the luminosity of his character, his enthusiasm and generosity; all characterised by an overwhelming mantle of humility.

The nation has lost an illustrious and eminent personality and I, a dear and much loved friend. To his wife Mary Rose and daughters Raffaella and Gabriella, I offer my sincere and deepest condolences.  He is gone, but his memory willlive on in the legacyof his works; they will speak for him for many years to come.