A new medium for Maltese modern art at the Government School of Art

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and understand the essence of the art of etching particularly as a new artistic medium within a niche of Maltese modern art; that concerning the Government School of Art. The Maltese artist Carmelo Mangion is the most important contributor to the etched oeuvre of twentieth century Maltese art and also the only serious cultivator of this medium as a teacher of the Etching Class at the School of Art. Prior to the opening of the Etching Class in 1935, the practice as well as teaching of etching on the island was considerably absent. His artistic dominance both as an artist-etcher and as a teacher played a forceful role in the development of Maltese modern art and impacted the work and artistic processes of many young artists that emanated from the School of Art. The political and artistic context of twentieth century Malta in which etching was a new medium provides the foundation for this research where the School of Art takes centre stage. Through analysing the technique and philosophy of the art of etching through the works of three artist/writers and illustrated through a master of modern etching, this new medium for Malta will begin to be validated. Moreover, the international context, particularly that of the international movement of The Etching Revival, is analysed in order to pursue a series of links with Malta. The presence and knowledge of this movement is evident due to the large number of copies by the students of Etching Class present in the Catalogue. The word revival is better substituted with birth for Malta as never was there such a substantial production of etchings produced during the time of Carmelo Mangion. Mangion’s printed and briefly his painted oeuvre are analysed in order to establish him as an artist-etcher, which will shed new light on the artist’s impact for Maltese modern art, particularly through his etchings. This is followed by a discussion on Mangion’s subtle yet dominant force both as an artist-etcher but significantly as a teacher having simply one class and one press, which led to the cultivation and contribution of the new medium of etching for Malta. This inevitably gave way, one way or another, to its manifestation in the oeuvres of various artists, predominantly those that originated from Mangion’s Etching Class. Etching, like every other artistic medium, borrows and usurps its methods from other mediums and vice-versa and this will be analysed in relevance to the oeuvres of selected local artists. Their involvement in local modern art movements will provide even further understanding to the nature of this manifestation, concluding with a brief investigation of etching after the legacy of Carmelo Mangion. This research means to expose a very interesting corpus of works of art, of etchings that belonged to the Etching Class at the School of Art, which illustrate the analysis made throughout this thesis. Although a micro context structures this thesis, the underlying arguments to be found within each chapter aim to provide the reader with the capability to understand any etching, or print in general.