https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/3307 Previously known as Department of History of Art Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:53:34 GMT 2026-06-15T17:53:34Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146867 Title: Visual culture in Malta as a mirror and an agent of change : from Italian unification to Maltese independence Abstract: imperial ideals. The influence permeated many aspects of Maltese imagery, especially architecture, public monuments, and other forms of state-sponsored art.8 These competing influences resulted in a distinct visual lexicon in Malta, reflecting the island’s efforts to assert its identity in the face of external pressures and internal changes. Visual art served not only as a form of creative expression but also as a means of encoding and contesting the era’s complex realities. Fine art and popular imagery became sites for subtle and profound debates about belonging, authority, and cultural resilience. Malta’s imagery reflects these interactions, providing insights into how art can serve as a bridge between competing traditions and ideologies. In Malta, the visual arts functioned as a dynamic space where external pressures met local traditions, resulting in works that absorbed, resisted, and transformed these influences. [...] Description: M.A.(Melit.) Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146867 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145942 Title: Pawlu Grech : a Cosmos of Art Authors: Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe Abstract: The publication pays homage to pioneering Maltese multidisciplinary artist Pawlu Grech (1938–2021). It documents a three-part project consisting of a concert, an exhibition of his visual works from 1949 to the 1980s, and a scholarly essay. The text explores Grech’s "talent trinity" as a musician, artist, and thinker, focusing on his innovative use of atonal compositional language, "sonic hieroglyphs," and the interrelationship between musical and visual structures. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145942 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145350 Title: Perit André Zammit's bequest to the National Archives of Malta Authors: Thake, Conrad Abstract: Eric André Zammit (1930–2020) distinguished himself as an architect and as a senior lecturer at the University of Malta. He was born in Gozo in 1930 and experienced the war years there. Upon completing his secondary education at the Seminary in Gozo, he continued his studies at St Aloysius College in Birkirkara. After his matriculation examinations, he was admitted to the Royal University of Malta to pursue studies in Architecture and Civil Engineering. He graduated in 1952, the youngest of his class, and proceeded to post-graduate studies in highway engineering and road design in London and Milan. Upon his return, he was employed by the Public Works (1952–1965), specifically in the Roads Department, where he was involved in major infrastructural projects including Malta's first traffic fly-over at Blata l-Bajda, undertaken during the late 1950s. In the mid-1960s he established his own private architectural practice. During the 1970s and 80s, Zammit lectured in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Malta. [excerpt] Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145350 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145305 Title: International perspectives on the decorative arts : nineteenth-century Malta Authors: Sagona, Mark Abstract: Perspectives on the Decorative Arts in nineteenth-century Malta was the title of the first conference on the Decorative Arts with a focus on Malta which I had the honour and privilege to convene, together with my colleague and friend from the Universita’ degli Studi di Palermo, Dr Roberta Cruciata, for the Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta. The conference, which was held at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Valletta on the 2nd May 2019 – on the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – was a very significant milestone for the Department’s growing interest in the artistically rich field of the Decorative Arts in the Maltese Islands. This academic initiative was also a watershed for the study of this little-studied subject, one of the fundamental pillars of art-making in Malta and Gozo. The peculiar politico-religious set up of the time permitted a distinct rapport with the larger international dimension of the Decorative Arts in the period. Hence the title of this publication. There is an international common denominator which runs throughout all contributions. [extract] Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145305 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z