And the Society of Arts
Gabriel Caruana merits a great deal of praise for the historical marks he has left on Malta’s twentieth-century artistic development (See ‘The legacy of Gabriel Caruana’, The Malta Independent on Sunday, July 10, 2016). Emphasis must be placed on his modern approach to ceramic production; he transformed the craft into an art form and negated the utilitarian function of ceramic objects. Also notable is his relentless energy to build a lasting infrastructure for artists in Malta. The Birkirkara Mill was designed by Caruana to be a multi-purpose venue; an exhibition space, workshop, educational centre, and an incubator for ideas and creativity.
Caruana is validly considered as an ambitious innovator who was set on changing the definition of art in Malta. And his motives were far from egocentric. This is why the Modern and Contemporary Art Research Programme of the Department of History of Art has selected Caruana’s art as the focus of this year’s edition of its international conference series, to be held on December 15. The objective of these conferences is to study a Maltese modern artist and discuss their work within the wider global spectrum of artistic development.
Last year Josef Kalleya was framed within the European school of modern sculpture as pioneered by Auguste Rodin. This December, Caruana’s ceramics will be placed in their Mediterranean context, in relation to the work of the avant-garde artist Lucio Fontana. This one-day conference will see Maltese, Italian and Spanish scholars and researchers debating a host of twentieth-century ceramic artists and their influence on the renewed perception of ceramics in the modern period.
Caruana’s work as a promoter of Maltese art is also one which needs to be given due attention. Upon a recent visit to the archives of the Malta Society of Arts housed at Palazzo de La Salle, I came across some interesting information about Caruana’s time as a committee member of the Society. The current President of the Society of Arts, Adrian Mamo, invited me to see the restoration project currently underway at the palace, and also discussed his future vision for the society.
Continuing in the footsteps of his predecessor Dr. Vince Briffa, Mamo has ambitious plans to improve the available facilities and to bolster the educational activities of the society by giving much needed attention to current research on the arts. Research has been unduly bypassed by the Society of Arts in recent years, but in the past a lot of importance was given to maintaining an up-to-date library. The library used to subscribe to major art periodicals, a practice that was regrettably discontinued. The reorganisation of the archives was one important step for the improvement of the Society’s educational resources, but Mamo intends for this to be the first of many.
I was previously unaware of Caruana’s own plans for the Society of Arts. He joined the board in 1965 and immediately began to propose forward-looking plans for the Society to increases its international involvement with the contemporary art world. During a board meeting held at the end of October in 1965, just four months after joining the committee, Caruana suggested that Malta’s participation in the Venice Biennale should be handled by the Society of Arts. There was good reason for Caruana to present this idea.
Malta has only been represented on a national level at the Venice Biennale on two occasions. The first in 1958, when leading twentiethcentury artists such as Kalleya, Frank Portelli, Carmelo Mangion, and Emvin Cremona were chosen to exhibit some works. In 1999, Vince Briffa, Norbert Attard and Ray Pitré submitted intriguing contemporary pieces for a display curated by the late Adrian Bartolo. 41 years is quite a substantial amount of time for a country to retreat from the largest and most significant international biennial art event. The good thing is that Malta will have a pavilion at the 2017 edition of the Biennale which will be curated by Bettina Hutschek and Dr. Raphael Vella. An 18-year gap is a quite an improvement on the previous fourdecade absence.
Since not much effort had been put into ensuring Malta’s presence at the Venice Biennale by the government, it is unsurprising that Caruana wanted the Society of Arts to take on this responsibility and make it a matter of priority. His proposal was supported by the other board members and a letter was sent to the Ministry of Education, the entity which used to handle cultural affairs. The correspondence shows that the Ministry was not very keen on the idea and stopped communicating with the Society after a couple of letters were exchanged.
Caruana again broached the subject at a May 1967 board meeting and it was decided that the Society of Arts would write to the Venice Biennale directly. However, Caruana’s enthusiasm was to encounter further adversity. Or, worse yet, a dwindling silence.
Aside from labouring to promote Maltese artists at the Venice Biennale, Caruana maintained relations with the Faenza Ceramic Exhibition committee which organised annual exhibitions on contemporary ceramics in Italy. Caruana often participated in these exhibitions and also ensured that, with the help of the Society, other artists would be given the same opportunity.
When the Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery invited the Society to organise an exhibition of Maltese art in London, Caruana was the first to recognise its importance and also pushed for its realisation. It was, in fact, the largest exhibition of Maltese twentieth-century art to be held in a major European city. The artist was also instrumental in coordinating Victor Pasmore’s exhibition at Palazzo de La Salle in 1970, a rather problematic event that was discussed by Dr. Theresa Vella during a talk held at the Victor Pasmore Gallery last month.
Research on Caruana has proved fascinating, and has shed new light on the many projects which he desired to realise. Those he did manage to bring into being were exceptional. This is why he is deservedly revered by so many and was awarded the Malta Society of Arts Gold Medal in 2014. The upcoming academic conference will be a major step for scholarship on Caruana as it will centre on the local and international art historical shifts reified by the artist.