President Edward Fenech Adami has officially opened the 17th Bank of Valletta Retrospective exhibition at the bank’s head office in Santa Venera.
The exhibition features 86 works by artist Victor Diacono, spanning eight decades of the artist’s career, with the earliest work dated 1937 and the latest being executed in 2004. The exhibition is organised into groups of exhibits: those coming from individual collections, others that are owned by the artist and sets belonging to private collections.
A fully illustrated catalogue containing a biographical synopsis about the artist, along with images of all the exhibits that are on display, accompanies the exhibition.
“It is a pleasure for Bank of Valletta to host an exhibition of works by one of Malta’s longest-standing and most accomplished artists,” said BOV chairman Roderick Chalmers, addressing the guests at the opening of the exhibition. “This is the third exhibition that is being organised at our new BOV Centre in Santa Venera, a modern building that transforms itself into a large exhibition hall on these occasions,” he added.
Mr Chalmers said that the retrospective exhibitions organised by Bank of Valletta underline the bank’s support for the development and promotion of the local art scene.
“They provide us with a platform to showcase, retrospectively, the careers of some of Malta’s most accomplished artists, and to give the public the opportunity to admire some of the outstanding works of art that Maltese artists have produced,” he said.
“Described as an artist who ‘speaks in silence’, Victor Diacono has kept a relatively low profile throughout his career, and we hope that this retrospective exhibition will contribute towards widening the appreciation of the works of art of this most versatile and outstanding artist,” Mr Chalmers concluded.
Victor Diacono, who was born in 1915, studied at the School of Art from 1929 to 1937 under Prof Antonio Micallef (1883-1957) and George Borg (1906-1983).
In 1937, he won a six-year scholarship and began his studies in Rome under Professor Angelo Zanelli, until 1940 when he had to return to Malta because of the outbreak of World War II.
He continued his studies in the UK from 1947 to 1950. He was always very active and was continuously commissioned for bust and Head portraits.
The exhibition will be open during office hours until 6 July.