An analysis of Spanish connections and trends in modern art in Malta : with a case study of the representation of bullfighting art

Abstract

The limited but significant oeuvre of taurine iconography in 20th century Maltese art will be studied in this dissertation as a microcosm of the broader development of Modern Art in Malta. Whilst the more established canon of taurine – and especially bullfighting – art in Spain is a more organic product of the country’s inherent traditions and history, the way the engagement of the Spanish Masters progressed throughout the century is significant. Given the intimacy of the bullfight custom in Spanish history it is unsurprising that its representational art is laden with political, social and aesthetic undertones and profundities. Are the same profundities present in the Maltese parallels? By delving deeper into these parallels a clearer picture of Maltese Modern art may be established. Most Maltese artists were drawn primarily to the corrida’s artistic potentials; we find in these taurine artworks experiments in Cubism, Expressionism and abstraction that reflect the wider Maltese art scene. We observe an art scene which was still finding its feet, like the nation in general, still tethered to its relations with the establishment, the church in particular. In such a light, Malta’s taurine art – as well as the interest in Spain and Spanish art more broadly – is a reflection of an art scene still quasi-Romantic in its fascination with the past, where modernism appeared more as a veneer than an integral component.