The National Museum of Fine Art has put on an exhibition called “Abstract art in the national collection”, by different artists who include Norbert Attard, Austin Camilleri, Pawl Carbonaro,

Joseph Paul Cassar, Alfred Chircop, Marco Cremona, Anton Grech, John L. Grima, Luciano Micallef, Joseph Saliba and Anthony Spagnol.

Florence Mottot speaks to site executive, DENNIS VELLA, about the role of the museum with regard to abstract art as Malta has no real background in the history of modern art.

Can you define what abstract art is and when this art form appeared?

Abstract art as we understand it today, is believed to have first appeared as a direct development of Impressionism when, in the 1870s, visible objects in real life were painted in a rather sketchy manner that evoked the ‘impression’ they made on the artist. Although it originated from a rather opposed school of thought, the style known as Cloisonnisme, part of the wider Symbolist movement in France at the end of the 19th century, gave further impetus to the process of abstraction. The Cloisonnist technique consisted of simplifying the subject into flat planes of colour delineated by a dark outline. This was a natural prelude to the idea of visual abstraction.

The main innovators of abstract painting are believed to have been Franz Kupka and Wassily Kandinsky in the first decade of the 20th century. The next major development was Cubism where, in the footsteps of Paul Cezanne, artists treated objects only in their most essential shapes, sometimes displayed simultaneously. This initial simplification of the artistic rendering of the visible world found its natural culmination in abstraction, which actually means reduction to essentials.

When and how did this art form develop in Malta? Who were the most important artists?

Since any form of modernism in art in Malta was frowned upon by the Church and State, it was several decades before abstract art started being displayed in exhibitions. We have no record of it being attempted in Malta before the early 1950s, that is 50 years after the rest of Europe. The artists’ group responsible for pioneering many developments of this sort was the Modern Art Group, among whom were artists tentatively practising the abstract style.

Emvin Cremona was one of the small group of Maltese artists who exhibited in the 1958 Venice Biennale of Modern Art with abstract paintings, one of which was illustrated in the General Catalogue. Cremona’s next major step was his ‘Broken Glass’ series of paintings in 1969. Simultaneously, the younger Alfred Chircop was already producing work which was to take him to the peak of this particular idiom of painting.

What do you think are the most important innovations and ideas created by this new art form?

Following the invention of photography in the mid-19th century, it became increasingly obvious to progressive artists that the previous function of painting, namely to reproduce faithfully the visible world, was fast becoming obsolete. This new development therefore permitted them to seek within themselves, deeper than before, themes for their art.

The formal components of art, namely colour and form, became in themselves the subject matter of a work of art irrespective of whether there was a recognisable subject to support them. This freedom however puts new responsibilities on the artist, because an arrangement of colours and forms had to be ‘meaningful’ enough to sustain itself as a work of art in its own right. However, traditional rules of composition and colour balance still governed the creation of an abstract work of art and decided its artistic validity, or otherwise. In such a situation, the abstract artist could take on the mantle of ‘creator’ expressing his innermost feelings, not simply remaining an interpreter of the outside world of visual reality.

What is the proportion of artists who practise this art in Malta at present?

About 10 per cent of practicing artists have worked, at some time or other, in the abstract idiom over the last 10 years.

What is the response of the public to their work?

Exhibitions of abstract art, mainly paintings and ceramics, now attract a tolerant public, at least when the works are of the type which are easily assimilated and rather decorative. A very small nucleus of art buyers actually pay very good prices for works by certain abstract artists, even treating their purchases as investments.

How can you explain this fact?

People are finally beginning to realise that abstract art is not necessarily a ‘hit or miss’ thing, that there is probably something in it. It is now a case of people not wanting to be left out sort of.

How has this exhibition about abstract art been received? What is the general profile of the visitors?

Considering the high quality of the works on show, (which are, regrettably, normally kept in Reserve due to lack of space,) it is not surprising that the exhibition was very favourably received. A number of enterprising schools and Junior Lyceums even make it a point to include visits to such exhibitions in their art curriculum.

Thus the exhibition attracted a couple of hundred students and schoolchildren, especially when it was first exhibited last spring. The general visitor profile to the exhibition largely reflects that which counts for the Museum as a whole, that is, about 98 per cent foreign visitors.

How can this art form be better known and better understood by the general public?

The Museum’s responsibility has, since its inauguration in 1904, also been to acquire and present contemporary art of the time. However the international avant garde artists were always excluded, so no relevant acquisitions were made except from mainstream artists. Over the years, whenever finances permitted, works were bought directly from the artists or on the market. Donations of works of art were also occasionally donated and these help alleviate certain gaps in the National Collection. Abstract art, treated in its right perspective, namely a case of late development in Malta due to historic factors, will remain a protagonist whenever the history of modern art in Malta is discussed.

The Museum has always been regularly supported in PBS’ television programmes, best exemplified at the moment by Mariella Pisani Bencini’s Meander. Other stations are sporadic in their reporting of the Museum’s activities, which I feel certainly deserve better coverage.

I should also like to draw your attention to the fact that my colleague, Katya Borg, is at present writing her Master of Arts dissertation in History of Art on the subject of Abstract Painting in Malta in the 1980s.

Although the works in the Museum’s exhibition all come from the following two decades it might still be interesting to have Katya’s views on the subject as well. She can be contacted on [email protected].

The exhibition closes tomorrow.