An essay on Maltese modern and contemporary art

Abstract

Patronage of the arts is a statement of power. It is a barometer attesting to the nation’s self-awareness as an equal participant in the turbulent state of international relations. Maltese patronage of the arts reflects the relationship between different powers that cluttered and determined the international, multi-national, and Mediterranean development and evolution of the Maltese nation. The Catholic Church, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Knights of Malta, and private patronage all contributed to a particular and rather contradictory tensed character in the evolution of the arts in Malta. An upsurge of novel economic developments that began in the 1960s saw a radical change in patronage that was shedding away the previous traditional feudal form. A burgeoning capitalist class demanded new works and a new idiom to reflect on Malta’s birth as an independent state seeking its own economic and political character. Tourism, manufacture, financial and aggressive investment sectors required and commanded a new patronage style: and here banks came into the picture. This essay serves to place the Bank of Valletta Collection in its proper context. The banking sector instigated a ‘quiet’ but deeply radical change in the Maltese economy. It reflected, and at the same time challenged, the previous insular liminality that Malta was caged in during previous historical periods. Such insular liminality formed part of Maltese art’s endeavour and struggle to find its place on the international artistic map, initially with an entrenched eclectic philosophy.