Malta has a new art gallery in St Paul's street, Valletta. where you can find the works of Victor Pasmore, the well-known and respected British artist, and so much more.  

Pasmore together with his wife, Wendy, had lived in Malta since late 1960 in a farmhouse, Dar Ġamri, located on the outskirts of Gudja. VP was to end his days there in 1998.

Some significant exhibitions of his works were held in Malta, one at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta in 1975. Another at Galleria Gaulos in Gozo. Evidence of this is the undated photo on the right given to me by the artist's son John.

I wonder how many of us realise how incredibly lucky we are to land one of the biggest pioneers of abstract art on our shores. The artist would, in fact go on to considerably influence the development of the contemporary art scene in Malta.

Herbert Read, the  poet and eminent critic, who was the chief British advocate and interpreter of modern art movements from the 1930s to the 60s was to describe Pasmore's new style  as 'the most revolutionary event in post-war British art.'  Pasmore experimented with abstract art forms such as reliefs, spray paintings, and constructions.  

I never had the good fortune of meeting him but I did meet his wife Wendy, briefly, her cats, and their son John, once a photographer for Stanley Kubrick, Milos Foreman and Michael Winner. He also works in sculpture and photography. I never kept in touch with him. I cannot even remember how I came to visit them in Gudja. I must have been invited to do so and must have written something about it. I rarely keep a record of what I write but that visit was a positive experience. I haven't been to Gudja since.

I am writing nothing about the exhibition In Search of Line as it has to be experienced but while you are there I want to urge you to spend more time in the Gallery looking at other works of art. I loved it when I went a couple of months ago and found it to be edifying to be surrounded by so much beauty. You will be surprised at the collection of works, some of them borrowed from private collections, which you would not be able to see otherwise. I have my favourite works of art, as you will have yours. I made some interesting discoveries: that Emvin Cremona also experimented with broken glass, and I saw at close quarters, Ġorg Borġ's magnificent bronze of Diana, which is in a private collection but for the time being, there for us to admire.

In the catalogue there are several essays, one of them by Richard England who was a close friend of Pasmore. He writes: "Victor Pasmore's constant search, after his break from early figurative works, for painting to be free  from representation with no objective or imitative form - 'painting as an independent object' - constantly features various linear topographies as basic compositional elements of his works. Pasmore uses line as a minimalist visual language to manifest his constant search for 'the elimination of the non-essential.' His lines are rhythmic points travelling, winding, twisting, meandering in space on a carefully etched graphic dance pattern..."

Pasmore was always an enigma to me but now I can understand what he was trying to do and why he is famous. I no longer walk past his donations at St James Cavalier and at Muza.

I was very lucky to be taken round the Gallery, with its rich collection, by the curator of its first exhibition In Search of Line, the knowledgeable Sarah Chircop.

I was also fortunate to have an input from Michael Lowell, CEO and Creative Director of Patrimonju which has now moved its offices to this building.

This Gallery is in what is known as APS house, the bank's former headquarters, which has been refurbished meticulously into a state-of-the-art gallery. Apart from a permanent collection of Pasmore's work,  it also has an active programme of temporary exhibitions showcasing the work of Malta's most significant 20th-century artists. Ultimately, the Gallery aims to research, promote and display the important cultural legacy that Pasmore had on Malta along with that of his Maltese contemporaries. 

In his forward to a good-looking catalogue full of illustrations and information, which accompanies the exhibition, the CEO of Patrimonju in the Foreword writes: "With this exhibition and with the move to the new premises and Gallery, we have arrived at such a threshold which, without a doubt, indicates a clear progression but also points, as it were, towards an undetermined future. In the same way that Pasmore challenged himself with both the familiar and the new, and in the same way that his peers - in Malta and abroad - were challenged by one another, by foreign and local influences alike, and by political, ideological, religious, cultural, and technological tensions of the time, we too  would like  to put our Foundation to the test, as a player in Malta's (but not exclusively) cultural sector. This is the raison d'ětre to which we aspire especially through the move to the new premises. It has, to say the least, motivated and shaped this exhibition and through which, dear visitor, we invite you to unshackle your thoughts, unbridle your expectations, and allow yourselves to join us on this new and exciting search."

There is also plenty of information about the exhibition and the Gallary on an App Bloomberg Philantrophies, which you can download free from the Apple store and which  can accompany you on this fascinating journey.

This Gallery is an experience not to be missed. You will love  the freshness of it all... and the beauty and the diversity of the art on display.

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Photos: Lisa Attard