Whose idea was it to organise an exhibition about the famed ‘Corto Maltese’?
Basically the French Embassy and Wicked Comics spoke about this about a year ago. We discussed the possibility of having an exhibition related to the Corto Maltese comics, especially since he is a Maltese character. The French Embassy asked us if we were interested in helping out, and we were. Wicked Comics is the same group that organises the yearly Comic Con. In fact the Corto Maltese exhibition starts before this year’s Comic Con, continues during it and goes on after the Comic Con Weekend.
Corto attends a Shul in Malta, and becomes familiar with the Kabala. As a young man, his immersion in the life of the ports of this sea island between Europe and Africa brings him face to face with a bracing and seemingly unlimited diversity of men and philosophies.
Joining the likes of Ulysses, Corto takes his place amongst the great wayfarers of history; he yearns to stand before magic and mystery in distant lands. He takes his place amongst men and women who know that body and spirit are renewed through risk and adventure.
Corto Maltese is a modern anti-hero who believes in the in?nite potential of man, a risk-taker who is constantly testing the ?ne line between grand goals and utter recklessness. For Corto, even his spectacular failures expand his spirit, his knowledge, his circle of loyalties.
Corto Maltese is an ideal travel companion because he is a true friend, an intrepid guide, and an opener of doors.
Wednesday 28th November, 6pm, Music Room St James CavalierWhat is the purpose of the exhibition?
The main purpose is to introduce Corto Maltese to the local public as a local figure. If people aren’t that into comics it can still be interesting for them, due to the connection and relationship this famous character has with Malta. You will find Corto Maltese to be a ‘mature’ kind of comic, since it is set during World War I, and depicts different empires which were fighting at the time.
Corto Maltese is a sailor, an adventurer, a privateer, a “man of fortune.” He was born in Malta, on July 10th, 1887, the son of a Gibraltan gypsy and a Cornish sailor. From his mother he inherits his Mediterranean features and passion, from his father a longing for voyage, and from both a love of mystery and the talent of seeing beneath the surface of things.
Corto attends a Shul in Malta, and becomes familiar with the Kabala. As a young man, his immersion in the life of the ports of this sea island between Europe and Africa brings him face to face with a bracing and seemingly unlimited diversity of men and philosophies.
Joining the likes of Ulysses, Corto takes his place amongst the great wayfarers of history; he yearns to stand before magic and mystery in distant lands. He takes his place amongst men and women who know that body and spirit are renewed through risk and adventure.
Corto Maltese is a modern anti-hero who believes in the in?nite potential of man, a risk-taker who is constantly testing the ?ne line between grand goals and utter recklessness. For Corto, even his spectacular failures expand his spirit, his knowledge, his circle of loyalties.
Corto Maltese is an ideal travel companion because he is a true friend, an intrepid guide, and an opener of doors.
Corto attends a Shul in Malta, and becomes familiar with the Kabala. As a young man, his immersion in the life of the ports of this sea island between Europe and Africa brings him face to face with a bracing and seemingly unlimited diversity of men and philosophies.
Joining the likes of Ulysses, Corto takes his place amongst the great wayfarers of history; he yearns to stand before magic and mystery in distant lands. He takes his place amongst men and women who know that body and spirit are renewed through risk and adventure.
Corto Maltese is a modern anti-hero who believes in the in?nite potential of man, a risk-taker who is constantly testing the ?ne line between grand goals and utter recklessness. For Corto, even his spectacular failures expand his spirit, his knowledge, his circle of loyalties.
Corto Maltese is an ideal travel companion because he is a true friend, an intrepid guide, and an opener of doors.Corto Maltese is a "cult" character of the best European graphic novels, but also a veritable literary myth of the twentieth century. He is “a traveler, a sailor who ironically combines a Mediterranean look and an Anglo-Saxon culture.” Corto, which in Spanish means “quick”, was created by the great Venetian artist Hugo Pratt in 1967. In fact the first issue of the comic came out in the sixties.
Could you please tell us more about Corto Maltese the traveller?
Corto Maltese is a sailor, an adventurer and a “man of fortune”. He was born in Malta, in Valletta to be exact, on the 10th July, 1887, the son of a Gibraltan gypsy known as "La Niña de Gibraltar" and a British sailor from Cornwall. His parents met in Gibraltar and his mother seems to have been a model for the painter Ingres (1780-1867). From his mother he inherits his Mediterranean features and passion, from his father a longing for voyage, and from both a love of mystery and the talent of seeing beneath the surface of things. Corto attends a Shul in Malta, and becomes familiar with the Kabala. As a young man, his immersion in the life of the ports of this sea island between Europe and Africa brings him face to face with a bracing and seemingly unlimited diversity of men and philosophies.
Joining the likes of Ulysses, Corto takes his place amongst the great wayfarers of history; he yearns to stand before magic and mystery in distant lands. He takes his place amongst men and women who know that body and spirit are renewed through risk and adventure.
Corto Maltese is a modern anti-hero who believes in the in?nite potential of man, a risk-taker who is constantly testing the ?ne line between grand goals and utter recklessness. For Corto, even his spectacular failures expand his spirit, his knowledge, his circle of loyalties.
Corto Maltese is an ideal travel companion because he is a true friend, an intrepid guide, and an opener of doors.
Corto Maltese (whose name is possibly derived from the Venetian Corte Maltese - Courtyard of the Maltese, today Corte Contarini del Bovolo) is a laconic sea captain adventuring during the early 20th century (1900-1920s). A "rogue with a heart of gold", he is tolerant and sympathetic to the underdog.
As a boy growing up in the Jewish quarter of Córdoba, Maltese discovered that he had no fate line on his palm and therefore carved his own with a razor, determining that his fate was his to choose. Although maintaining a neutral position, Corto instinctively supports the disadvantaged and oppressed. Joining the likes of Ulysses, Corto takes his place amongst the great wayfarers of history. He yearns to stand before magic and mystery in distant lands, and takes his place amongst men and women who know that body and spirit are renewed through risk and adventure.
Corto Maltese is a modern anti-hero who believes in the in?nite potential of man, a risk-taker who is constantly testing the ?ne line between grand goals and utter recklessness. For Corto, even his spectacular failures expand his spirit, his knowledge and his circle of loyalties. We would like to emphasise that although his father is an English sailor, and his mother is a gypsy, Corto was born in La Valletta Malta, and thus essentially he is a Maltese character, of Maltese origin.
Corto attends a Shul in Malta, and becomes familiar with the Kabala. As a young man, his immersion in the life of the ports of this sea island between Europe and Africa brings him face to face with a bracing and seemingly unlimited diversity of men and philosophies.
Joining the likes of Ulysses, Corto takes his place amongst the great wayfarers of history; he yearns to stand before magic and mystery in distant lands. He takes his place amongst men and women who know that body and spirit are renewed through risk and adventure.
Corto Maltese is a modern anti-hero who believes in the in?nite potential of man, a risk-taker who is constantly testing the ?ne line between grand goals and utter recklessness. For Corto, even his spectacular failures expand his spirit, his knowledge, his circle of loyalties.
What can one expect to find at the exhibition?
The exhibition will commence in the Music Room at St James Cavalier, on Wednesday 28th November at 6pm. A talk will be given by a French speaker about the famous comic’s creator Hugo Pratt, the origins and philosophy of Corto Maltese and what Pratt was trying to depict in his adventures.
The discussion will last for an hour and the exhibition will begin at 7pm in the Main Hall of St James Cavalier in Valletta, the city where Corto was born. The exhibition itself will consist of images from the Corto Maltese comics and a series of prints of the illustrations will be shown. The exhibition will last for one month and will continue to be shown after Comic Con is held between the 8th and 9th December, until the 24th December 2012.
More about Corto Maltese
Originally from Malta, it appears that Corto Maltese was an ideal travel companion because he is a true friend, an intrepid guide, and an opener of doors.
The character debuted in the serial ‘Una Ballata del Mare Salato’ (Ballad of the Salt Sea), one of several Pratt stories published in the first edition of the magazine Sgt. Kirk in July. The story centres around smugglers and pirates in the World War I-era Pacific Islands. In 1970, Pratt moved to France and began a series of short Corto Maltese stories for the comics magazine Pif gadget, an arrangement lasting four years and producing many 20 page stories. In 1974 he returned to full-length stories, sending Corto to 1918 Siberia in the story ‘Corte Sconta Detta Arcana’ (Corto Maltese in Siberia), first serialised in Linus.
Corto Maltese embodies the author's skepticism of national, ideological, and religious assertions. Corto befriends people from all walks of life, including the murderous Russian Rasputin (no relation with the historical figure, apart from physical resemblance and some character traits), British heir Tristan Bantam, Voodoo priestess Gold Mouth and Czech academic Jeremiah Steiner.
He also knows and meets various real-life historical figures including Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Butch Cassidy, James Joyce, John Reed, White Russian general Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, Enver Pasha of Turkey and Sergei Semenov, modelled after Grigory Semyonov. His acquaintances treat him with great respect, as when a telephone call to Joseph Stalin frees him from arrest when he is threatened with execution on the border of Turkey and Armenia.
Corto's favourite reading is ‘Utopia’ by Thomas More, but he never finished it. He also read books by London, Lugones, Stevenson, Melville and Conrad. Corto Maltese stories range from straight historical adventure to occult dream sequences. He is present when the Red Baron is shot down, helps the Jivaros in South America, and flees Fascists in Venice, but also unwittingly helps Merlin and Oberon to defend Britain and helps Tristan Bantam to visit the lost continent of Mu.
In 1976, ‘Ballad of the Salt Sea’ was published in book format and was awarded the prize for best foreign realistic comic album at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Pratt continued to produce new stories over the next two decades, many first appearing in the comics magazine Corto Maltese, until 1988 when the final story Mu was serialised, ending in June 1989.
Corto’s chronology
1887 Corto Maltese is born on 10 July, 1887 in La Valetta (Malta). His father is an English sailor, a native of Tintagel, Cornwall. His mother is a gypsy from Seville. His parents met in Gibraltar, where his mother was known by the name of “La niña of Gibraltar” and seemed to have been a model for the painter Ingres (1780-1867).
1887-1903 Corto Maltese spends his childhood in Gibraltar, then in Cordoba where he lives in the Jewish neighborhood. He attends the Jewish school in La Valletta, headed by Rabbi Ezra Toledano (his mother’s lover when they live in Cordoba). At the time of the “Boxer War” (June-August 1900) Corto is in China.
1904 At the beginning of the year, Corto begins his travels as a sailor aboard the Golden Vanity out of the port of La Valletta. He makes a stop in Egypt, where he visits the pyramids of Giza. In February, he reaches Ismailia, followed by stops in Aden, Muscat, Karachi, Bombay, Colombo, Madras, Rangoon, Singapore, Kowloon, Shanghai and Tien Tsin. and they sail for Africa in search of the gold mines in the Danakil. At this time the episode “The Youth” takes place.
1905-1906 A mutiny occurs aboard the ship on the Sea of Celebes. Corto and Rasputin are rescued and taken aboard a merchant ship. They reach Valparaiso in Chile. From there they travel by train to Santiago first, and then Argentina in 1905. In Cholila, Patagonia, they meet the American outlaws Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and Etta Place.
1921-1922 For about a year, Corto Maltese goes in search of the treasure of Alexander the Great (which he will only get to glance at from a distance). He leaves Rhodes and arrives in Adana (Turkey) in December. He crosses the village to Van. Then passing through Azerbaijan he reaches the Caspian Sea (crossing by boat from Baku to Krasnovodsk), and arrives in the emirate of Bukhara. There he meets Rasputin, who has just been released from a prison called “The Golden House of Samarkand,” near Baldjouan, south-east of Duchambe (now the capital of Tajikistan). Here Corto and Rasputin witness the death of General Enver Pasha (August 4, 1922). From here they go to Kafiristan (Afghanistan region, now called Nuristan). The Golden House of Samarkand ends on 6th September, 1922 when Corto and Rasputin cross the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, then part of the empire of the Indies.
1923 In early June, Corto Maltese returns to Argentina after being away for fifteen years. He arrives aboard the steamship Le Malte, owned by Freight Forwarders Reunited, which was en route from Hamburg to Buenos Aires. On June 13, he begins the story of Tango, which ends on the night of June 20th.
1924 Corto visits all the Swiss cantons. The Helvetics begins in the fall, after a retreat in the small village of Savuit-sur-Lutry (Canton of Vaud). Corto and Professor Steiner go to Montagnola (Canton Ticino) where they meet the writer Hermann Hesse. Later, Corto goes to Zurich with the painter Tamara de Lempicka.
1924-1925 In Tarifa, Spain Corto and Rasputin receive a telegram from their friend Levi Colombia in Venezuela. He invites them to a cruise in the Caribbean to search for Atlantis. This begins the story of Mü.
1926-1936 Not much is known of the life of Corto Maltese at this time. We know that in December 1928 and January 1929 he is in Harar (the Ethiopian town where the poet Rimbaud lived) in the company of the novelist Henry de Montfreid and paleontologist and theologian Teilhard de Chardin.
1936 In July 1936 the Spanish civil war begins and it will last until May 1939. Corto joins the International Brigades fighting with John Cornford (son of the English poet Frances Cornford Croft, grandson of Darwin). Then we lose track of Corto.
In January 1941, in the story “The Scorpions of the Desert” Cush, says, “It seems Corto Maltese disappeared during the Spanish Civil War.” We also learn that Corto sent a hawk, Al –Andaluz, to Cush from Spain. And so it seems that his incredible journey ends in Spain.