Harry Alden : the op art and hard-edge tradition in modern and contemporary Maltese art

Abstract

Forty years after the opening of the Malta Government School of Art (established 1926), Harry Alden is a graduate of art (1966). Taking a good look at an overall development in modem art, Malta seems to have moved at a considerable fast pace. Only a few decades before, the rigidity of art education did not allow the student to look nowhere else but the object of interest. Henry Moore's sculpture seemed absurd, Prussian blue was not acceptable, the palette knife was not preferred and no life classes took place. The secret was found in profound observation. This dissertation, which primarily focuses on the technique of Op Art and Hard-edge tradition of Harry Alden, will take a steady journey into the introduction of a new style in Malta during the 1960s. Like most artists contemporary to Alden, his innovation developed and his mastery as an artist showed invention and creativity with a sound foundation of the craft. This thesis will also demonstrate the importance of the Government School of Art and its contribution to the making of the hard-edge technique. Harry Alden, the painter of the hard-edge does not only become the artist in own his right but also the teacher. This had been an interesting chapter in cracking the differences and similarities between the artist and the student who becomes so much a Second Alden in the 1970s. Harry Alden was one of the few artists of the English School. A study of his training will progressively demonstrate and illustrate the making of his new trend on the Island.