The Malta Independent on Sunday
A meeting with DONALD BOWEN
Nikki Petroni
For the past month I have been carrying out research at the University of Cambridge to consult material available in the Royal Commonwealth Society collection. I am specifically focusing on documents related to the exhibition of works by Maltese artists in London, mainly at the Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery. Of great interest have been the memoirs of Donald Bowen. Bowen was the curator of the art gallery, and he worked with artists from all over the Commonwealth for around 25 years, organising over 200 exhibitions. He is also a trained artist and a very talented draughtsman.
I had the great pleasure of being invited to Mr. Bowen’s home in Sutton to discuss his time at the Institute and his experience with curating so many diverse shows. Although he will turn 99 next month, Bowen had an admirably vivid memory and certainly did not lack wit. He enthusiastically told me of the time when he was invited to visit Malta in 1958 to see some archaeological sites, churches and other places of interest, the photographs of which are included in his memoirs at Cambridge University Library.
Unfortunately, Bowen could not recall any specific Maltese artists who had exhibited works at the Institute. Of course, having worked with hundreds of artists, it would be a challenge for anyone to remember such a variety of names and works of art. He did tell me that due to the very active programme which he coordinated, it was only those artists who made an effort to maintain contact with him that he could place. Moreover, it was those artists with whom he did build a relationship that he wrote about it in his articles on art from the Commonwealth published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts and some other periodicals (many of which are available online). It seems that the Maltese artists were not so communicative.
During the years of Bowen’s tenure, around 21 Maltese artists participated in collective exhibitions, and two had solo shows (Giorgio Preca and Alfred Chircop), whilst another three exhibited in pairs (the Apap Brothers, and Richard England’s joint show with English textile artist Julie Caprara). Some of the artists whose works were on display in the art gallery include; Esprit Barthet, Frank Portelli, Josef Kalleya, Anton Agius, Antoine Camilleri, Harry Alden, and Ġanni Bonnici. Emvin Cremona’s work was shown on three separate occasions. All of Malta’s notable modern artists were given the opportunity to promote their work in a contemporary London gallery.
Bowen emphasised that he was the person who ultimately decided which artists would be able to be part of the Institute’s art programme. For the first couple of years after the gallery’s in- auguration, Bowen worked together with the art critic Eric Newton who had visited Malta and seen works by several artists. It was possibly because of Newton’s relationship with, and also his positive opinion of, Maltese artists that they managed to organise a good number of exhibitions at the gallery.
Despite Bowen’s trouble with recalling names and works of Maltese artists, a considerable number of Maltese art exhibi- tions (seven in total) were organised, which means that their work was well-regarded. When compared with other nations, Malta was one of the countries which was permitted frequent representation at the gallery. Bowen selected those artists whom he felt were suitable to the gallery’s international outlook. An artist was not guaranteed a place if they were very successful in their home country; he was interested in looking at their work and made an assessment based on his experience of seeing the product itself.
Bowen told me that the list of requests by artists to exhibit at the gallery was endless, and that the space would be completely booked about three or four years in advance, especially during the 1960s when the Institute was in its prime. When I asked him about the decision-making process, Bowen underlined that he used to see works before confirming the artists, preferably by visiting their studios whenever possible. Otherwise he demanded a photographic portfolio which he would study carefully to avoid making any mistakes of judgement.
This means that in spite of his rather mixed review of the large collective exhibition of Maltese contemporary artists held in 1967 (see ‘Maltese art at the Commonwealth Institute’, Malta Independent on Sunday, 21 August 2016), Bowen thought the quality of the artworks presented to be satisfactory. The selection of works presented in this exhibition was actually carried out by the organiser, the Malta Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and not by Bowen. However, he did state that the exhibition would not have been approved if the choice of works was unsuitable. Furthermore, he insisted that the curatorial aspect was definitely handled by him and that no one was allowed to interfere. Each and every exhibition was meticulously designed from start to finish.
Bowen found his job to be very difficult yet extremely rewarding, and, judging by his rather insufficient remuneration, it is obvious that he loved curating the arts programme of the Institute’s art gallery. In his own words: ‘There was nowhere quite like it.’
This coming November, the building which previously housed the Commonwealth Institute will reopen as the London Design Museum. The building had been abandoned for quite a number of years, and it will now be put to good use.
The fact that the Commonwealth Institute no longer exists means that Bowen’s relentless hard work and the foundations which he built have been regretfully neglected. The decision to establish a Commonwealth art gallery was a very ambitious idea, and the problems which it tried to confront, especially that of challenging London’s hierarchical cultural position, have become central to the work of scholars of global modern and contemporary art.