Decoration and spirituality in the art of Emvin Cremona - reflections and considerations

Abstract

Although a full, in-depth analysis of the artistic personality and the extraordinary, multi-faceted contribution of Emvin Cremona (1919-87) still unfortunately awaits, his art has been the subject of several studies. There is universal consensus that his artistic production – especially his experiments with abstraction – constitutes one of the great highlights of twentieth-century Maltese art. In 2007, I had written the following: ‘Emvin Cremona’s pre-eminence in the Maltese twentieth-century artistic firmament lies in the fact that he was one of the first Maltese artists to come to terms with a fully-fledged modern idiom. Although his popularity stemmed from his ecclesiastical and philatelic works, it is in his private creations that he attained his most important achievements. In these private works, the artist could express himself unshackled by outside constraints and parameters.’ It is exactly in these usually non-religious works where the soul of the artist is truly revealed and his sublime spirit altogether manifested.