Treasures of Malta - Easter 2023

TREASURES O F MALTA

No. 86, Easter 2023, Vol. XXIX No. 2

MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to collect and disseminate information, and to assist with research into the culture and historic heritage of Malta ~ to organize in Malta and overseas, independently or with others, exhibitions, seminars and other activities with the aim of promoting and spreading knowledge of the cultural heritage of Malta ~ to produce publications, catalogues, books, documents and other material that reflect the aim of our Foundation.

FONDAZZJONI PATRIMONJU MALTI

A Life in Line: The Sketched Journey of Josef Kalleya (1898–1998)

Nikki Petroni sketches out Kalleya’s theo-philosophical and artistic journey through four (non-linear) chapters orbiting the primordial gesture of drawing a line

18

32

54

The Four Passion Canvases and the Eighteenth-Century Oratory of the Holy Crucifix in Senglea

Jonathan Farrugia and conservators

Valentina Lupo and Maria Grazia Zenzani present a detailed account of the building and decoration of the Oratory of the Holy Crucifix in Senglea, and of the restoration of four paintings by Francesco Zahra commissioned for it

42

An Ancient Marble Herm in the Palazzo Falson Collection

Anthony Bonanno attributes an intriguing bearded marble head to a special category of Greco-Roman sculpture, tracing back its aniconic origin in Greek prehistory and its iconography in Greek Classical art

61

My Favourite Object

Victor Grech

The St George Portable Triptych in the Gozo Cathedral Museum

Mario Buhagiar and Charles Cassar attempt to decipher the curious iconography and possible origins of a unique devotional artefact

Drawing Meaning to Drawings: A Sketch by Francesco Zahra (1710–1773)

Roger De Gaetano

46

63 The Cover

Giulia Privitelli

64 A Politician beyond Politics: Oliver Friggieri (1947–2020)

Romilda Pace

The Rizzo Marich Dynasty and the Tobacco Industry in Malta

Warriors, Garrisons, Militias and Fortifications in Malta Through the Ages: Part II

(535 – c.1260 CE)

Charles Debono

83 Bookshelf

Richard England; Christian Attard

86 Cultural Review

Cecilia Xuereb

88 Calendar Highlights

Antonia Critien

Noel Toledo delves into the history of the Rizzo Marich family and their tobacco shop in Palace Square, Valletta

Lucio Fontana, from the Concetti Spaziali series, 29 x 29cm (w/o frame), canvas cut with a Stanley knife, c. 1958–1968.

(Private Collection, Malta / Photo: Lisa Attard)

from the Editor

The cultural life of the Maltese Islands still persists in its determination of being everything, and the opposite of everything, at the same time. Undeniably creative and vibrant in many aspects—music, theatre, arts, conservation, entertainment, literature, the hospitality industry, the Islands remain, just as ruthlessly, destructive in too many others, most significantly in the protection of nature and in the respect for the built environment.

Fully paid-up membership in the demolition-on-steroids brigade is hardly sanitised by the token salvage of some bitty façades of appreciable antique architecture. If anything, this sad resort to hollow façadism only makes the malaise appear more barbaric and painful.

After recently celebrating its thirtieth birthday anniversary, Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti perseveres stoically in the pursuit of its founding objectives. Part of its energies and resources are at present being channelled towards the radical restructuring of the palazzina on St Paul’s Street, Valletta, destined to serve in the immediate future as its office and public exhibition space. It was a marathon, now hopefully in sight of the finishing post.

The new headquarters will be inaugurated with an ambitious, meaningful, and unusual exhibition, In Search of Line, on which we have been working since we took down our last major project: Music in Malta – From Prehistory to Vinyl, hosted in the lovely spaces of the Mdina Cathedral Museum.

This rich display will not come on its own. Like all other previous exhibitions, it will be accompanied by a lavish book-catalogue which will enrich and preserve for the future the visitor’s viewing experience. Exhibitions remain essentially transient events, they come and go. Their catalogues outlive them by far.

The podcast series Treasures from Malta, run on behalf of our Foundation by Francesca Balzan, widens its circle of adepts. She captures leading stars in the cultural firmament of the island by throwing at them intriguing and challenging inquisitiveness. The series has been hosted on radio by Campus FM and has also been taken up by Air Malta in their inflight entertainment system. A new podcast series is in the making, thumbnails of lives and of achievements closeted but for the perseverance of our gifted interviewer, who we will miss sorely when she moves to pastures new.

Our collaboration with Kite group, apart from the present tri-annual magazine, will soon bear its first fruit—the publication of Theresa Vella’s lifelong research on the collections, and the collection manias, of the Knights of Malta. The volume Splendour & Devotion: The Art Collections of the Order of St John has now made it to all local bookstores, to the most lavish standards of production, in contents, imaging, and display.

This will be followed by a new series which will bring together the latest history and art history research that I had carried out and published in local newspapers. Packaged in a different format, this novel cycle of volumes hopes to outdo the popularity of the classic series Histories of Malta of which twelve volumes were successfully published. There will no longer be a need to rummage in old newspaper cuttings for discoveries, juicy narratives, and amazing stories. They will all be neatly housed between two covers. Other intriguing books by Vicki Ann Cremona, by Michael Frendo, and by Charlie Cauchi, are elbowing their way in the pipeline too.

Meanwhile, Palazzo Falson is in full swing, what with Music and Poetry evenings, its EduFun activities which teach children how to learn and play, its programmes now being extended to schools too. Funds have been gratefully allocated by GAL Majjistral Action Group for the restoration of some paintings preserved in the Olof Gollcher studio.

All in all, it promises to be an exciting year ahead.

Treasures of Malta is published three times a year, at Christmas, Easter and in the Summer

General Editor: Giovanni Bonello

Senior Editor: Giulia Privitelli

Creative Director: Michael Lowell

Publisher / Editorial Office

Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti

63, Old Mint Street, Valletta VLT 1518, Malta

tel: (356) 21228145 / (356) 21231515

email: giovannibonello@patrimonju.org / info@patrimonju.org / publish@patrimonju.org

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Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti

VO/1762

Conseil d’Honneur

His Excellency the President, Dr George Vella

The Hon. Prime Minister, Dr Robert Abela

His Grace the Archbishop, Mgr Charles J. Scicluna

Hon. President

The Hon. Dr Owen Bonnici

Minister for National Heritage, the Arts, and Local Government

Hon. Life Founder President

Dr Michael Frendo

Life Founder Members

Rita Flamini, the late Maurice de Giorgio

Founder Members

John Lowell, the late John Manduca

Nicholas de Piro

Board of Governors

Joseph Grioli, Chairman

Giovanni Bonello, Deputy Chairman

Joseph V. Bannister

Pascal A. Demajo

Max Ganado

Michael Grech

Matthew von Brockdorff

Michael Lowell, Chief Executive Officer

Francesca Balzan, Senior Executive

Te Chairman and Board of Governors of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti would like to thank the following donors for their support

ASSOCIATES

BENEFACTORS

THE MARTIN LAING FOUNDATION

CORPORATE SUPPORTERS

FONDAZZJONI PATRIMONJU MALTI

MR JEAN CLAUDE GANDUR

TeChairman and Board of Governors of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti would like to thank the following donors for their support

PERSONAL SUPPORTERS

Mr & Mrs Andrew Hamish Forsyth

PATRONS

Simon Abrahams & Francesca Del Rio

Mr & Mrs Neville Agius

Baroness Apap Bologna Sceberras D’Amico lnguanez

Simon & Annabelle Ellul Sullivan

Atlas Insurance – Mr Matthew von Brockdorf

CamilleriParis Mode – Mr Paul Camilleri

Eden Leisure Group – Mr Ian De Cesare

Eyetech Ltd – Mr Patrick Cutajar

Forestals Group of Companies – Mr Tancred Tabone

GasanMamo Insurance Ltd – Mr Julian Mamo

Gianpula – Dr Roger de Giorgio

Good Earth Distributors Ltd – Mr Matthew de Giorgio

GVZH Advocates – Dr Michael Grech

IIG Bank (Malta) Ltd – Mr Raymond Busuttil

Joinwell – Mr Sebastian de Giorgio

Kite Group Limited – Mr Gordon Pisani

Lombard Bank Malta plc – Mr Joseph Said

Mapfre Middlesea plc – Mr Martin Galea

Mrs Janatha Stubbs

Mr Andrew Norman Vincenti

PERSONAL CORPORATE

Miller Distributors Ltd – Mr Malcolm G. Miller

O. F. Gollcher and Sons Ltd – Mr Karl Gollcher

PwC – Mr David Valencia

RiskCap International Ltd – Dr Paul Magro

Rizzo, Farrugia & Co. (Stockbrokers) Ltd – Mr Vincent J. Rizzo

Satariano – Ms Natasha Chapelle Paleologo

Shireburn Sofware Limited – Ms Yasmin de Giorgio

Sigma Coatings (Malta) Ltd – Mr Anthony Critien

Te Alfred Mizzi Foundation – Mr Julian Sammut

Te Gasan Foundation – Ms Sarah Gasan

Tug Malta Ltd – Mr John E. Sullivan

Virtù Steamship Co. Ltd – Mr Charles A. Portelli

Water Services Corporation – Mr Karl Cilia

(As at time of going to press)

victor pasmore gallery

A Life in Line

The Sketched Journey of Josef Kalleya (1898–1998)

Nikki Petroni sketches out Kalleya’s theo-philosophical and artistic journey through four (non-linear) chapters orbiting the primordial gesture of drawing a line

Josef Kalleya (1898–1998) was one of Malta’s foremost modernist artists. The spiritual depth and aesthetic novelty of his artistic language meant that his life was fraught with challenges and misgivings.

It was only at age seventy-eight, in 1976, that the artist was granted his first large solo exhibition, preceded by two other smaller exhibitions in 1974 and 1975. Throughout his life, Kalleya mentored and conversed with past artists, writers, and thinkers in his works, but most especially in the thousands of sketches and drawings that have been unearthed in the past five or so years.

The sketchbooks must be perceived as Kalleya’s mind, body, and soul. From the break of dawn, he would begin to release thoughts, his internal ‘torment’, onto paper. These morning sessions would take place in a quiet household, since Kalleya’s studio was attached to the family home, before any of his children or his wife, Elsa, awoke. In the subsequent hours, he would resume work on his sculptures, creating and

Dr Nikki Petroni completed a Ph.D. in Maltese modern art at the University of Malta under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci. Nikki is a visiting lecturer in modern and contemporary art at the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Malta and is Education and Development Executive at Arts Council Malta. She is part of the curatorial committee of the APS Mdina Contemporary Art Biennale and was Coordinator of the Strada Stretta Concept and Project Manager for the 2022 Malta Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Fig. 1 (Detail) Untitled, 1978. (Courtesy of the Josef Kalleya Family Archives)

The St George Portable Triptych in the Gozo Cathedral Museum

Mario Buhagiar and Charles Cassar attempt to decipher the curious iconography and possible origins of a unique devotional artefact

The principal objective of this paper is to bring to public notice a long-forgotten and unstudied artefact in the Gozo Cathedral Museum: a small brass portable triptych, 500mm x 930mm, contained, when closed, in a protective brass sleevebox, 580 x 580mm, with a low relief of a mounted St George fighting the dragon (Fig. 1). It is the only known example in Malta of a typology of portable triptychs which, in Eastern Christianity and particularly in Russia, persisted in firmly established devotional demand from the Middle Ages to Modern times. In broad terms, it is correct to consider them as the Orthodox church equivalent to the holy medal in the Catholic church; they were similarly intended to be worn round the neck to consecrate and protect the wearer and enrich him or her with indulgences.

Mario Buhagiar is a Professor of History of Art at the University of Malta in the Department he founded and directed for many years. As a researcher and author of several specialised studies on art and archaeology, his scholarship has won him international good repute; he is Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and Member of the National Order of Merit.

Charles R. Cassar is an art historian. He obtained a Diploma in Baroque Studies, a B.A. (Hons.) and an M.A. in History of Art, all with distinction, from the University of Malta. In 2010, he was inscribed in the Dean’s List for academic excellence. Cassar is the author of Stones of Faith (2012) and is in the process of publishing his research on nineteenth-century ecclesiastical architecture in Gozo.

Fig. 1 Sleeve-box. Front side with low relief of St George fighting the dragon. (Courtesy of the Gozo Cathedral Museum / Photo: CVC Media)

The Four Passion Canvases and the Eighteenth-Century Oratory of the Holy Crucifix in Senglea

Jonathan Farrugia is a

priest and Head of Department of Church History,

Adjacent to the basilica of Our Lady of Victories in Senglea, one finds the early eighteenth-century oratory dedicated to the Holy Crucifix, where the renowned effigy of the Redentur is kept. However, there is more to the oratory than this statue. Upon entering from its main doorway found in Crucifix Street, the visitor is struck by four large canvases by Senglea-born artist Francesco Vincenzo Zahra depicting four moments from the Passion of Christ: the agony in the garden, the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, and the falling under the cross. Francesco is not the only Zahra whose work can be appreciated in this oratory; his father, Pietro Paolo, carved all the stonework that can still be seen today.

and

Archaeology at the University of Malta. He obtained his doctorate from the Augustinian Institute (Rome). Apart from early Christian texts his primary research interest is archival research related to local religious artefacts. His main contribution in this field is his landmark publication on the miraculous effigy of Christ the Redeemer of Senglea.

diocesan

Patrology

Palaeochristian

Fig. 1 (Detail) Francesco Zahra, Crowning of Christ with Thorns, after conservation. (Courtesy of Atelier del Restauro)

Jonathan Farrugia and conservators Valentina Lupo and Maria Grazia Zenzani present a detailed account of the building and decoration of the Oratory of the Holy Crucifix in Senglea, and of the restoration of four paintings by Francesco Zahra commissioned for it

Drawing Meaning to Drawings A Sketch by Francesco Zahra (1710–1773)

Roger De Gaetano

One of the most prolific Maltese artists in Malta during the eighteenth century was undoubtedly Francesco Vincenzo Zahra, born in Senglea on 15 December 1710. Considering the reasonable volume of paintings executed by him, on the contrary, fewer are the drawings certified or attributed to him. Relying on those drawings published as autograph works,1 one finds that he used chalk or pen and ink mingled with coloured chalks, and often included applications of fine wash.

The drawing (Fig. 1) depicting the transition of the corpse of St Catherine to Mount Sinai, published here for the first time, reveals a technique typical of a mid-eighteenth-century North Italian hand, possibly Genoese. This preparatory drawing, executed in pen and ink, enriched with touches of strong red chalk, is indeed by Francesco Zahra and is related to his successful painted representation executed for one of the chapels within the parish church of Żurrieq, dedicated to the same saint (Fig. 2). For this church, Zahra was also commissioned a painting depicting St Catherine’s martyrdom— commissions which, I believe, were affected around the 1750s. The cult of St Catherine of Alexandria was widely spread throughout the Maltese Islands, indeed, since the early fourteenth century, with several churches dedicated to her.2

The handling in the drawing is swift, non-academic, and highly motivating. If one wishes to consider the level of draughtsmanship of this master one must delve into the expediency and seriousness of his style exemplified in

this remarkable sheet. It demonstrates his freedom from his tutor, Gian Nicola Buhagiar (1698–1752). In this preparatory sketch he crystallises his primo pensiero in an unprecedented way, probably beyond his own expectations. Features, such as the elegant, pointed feet, free handling of locks, and sparks of ink, occupy the sheet with an exquisite flair. The richness does not only rest on Zahra’s handling but also on the composition in which figures entwine in tender and friendly postures, till then unseen locally amongst Maltese masters and his contemporaries. This drawing speaks of the final episode of the saint’s dramatic life. She is also generally well represented in known iconography disputing the elders.3 Her destiny was

Fig. 1

Francesco Zahra, drawing for the Te Transition of the Corpse of St Catherine to Mount Siena, 28 x 19cm, pen and ink with red chalk on light cream paper, visible wire lines and watermark. Inscribed ‘Zahra’ at the back of the sheet. (Private Collection, Malta)

Fig. 2

Francesco Zahra, Te Transition of the Corpse of St Catherine to Mount Siena, oil on canvas, Żurrieq Parish Church. (Photo: Joe P. Borg)

The Rizzo Marich Dynasty and the Tobacco Industry in Malta

The tobacco shop of the Rizzo Marich family, known as V. Marich & Co., was situated in a very prominent place in the city of Valletta: on Palace Square. It was not just any shop but a smoking divan, a popular rendezvous point for Maltese gentry, naval and military senior officers, where they could smoke, relax, and discuss the latest topics of the day. V. Marich & Co. was established in 1838 and closed in November 1959—a span of 120 years in which the tobacco industry had to face various challenges.

Noel Toledo, who holds a B.A. (Hons) in Public Administration, started his career within the Public Service in 1984 and has held various senior positions since then, the last being that of Director in Market Surveillance. Having resigned in 2012, he started working as a private consultant in product safety. His work has taken him to most EEA countries and has assisted various governments in candidate countries as well as Mongolia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. He has a keen interest in family genealogy.

Noel Toledo delves into the history of the Rizzo Marich family and their tobacco shop in Palace Square, Valletta

Fig. 1

Photo taken in the 1930s during one of the many military parades that took place in Palace Square, Valletta. In view is the shop where V. Marich & Co. was located. (Courtesy of the Bellia family)

An Ancient Marble Herm in the Palazzo Falson Collection

Anthony Bonanno attributes an intriguing bearded marble head to a special category of Greco-Roman sculpture, tracing back its aniconic origin in Greek prehistory and its iconography in Greek Classical art

Among the numerous objects on display in the jewel of a museum that is the Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum in Mdina, the visitor’s attention is attracted by a small head carved in marble. The marble is white with medium-sized crystals and a somewhat honey-tinged patina. The surviving height of the head is 12cm and its maximum width is 9.3cm; the head is, therefore, roughly half life-size (Fig. 1).

In view of the frequent and intensive involvement of Olof Gollcher, the former owner of this collection, in underwater archaeology, one is tempted to attribute the prevailing wear of practically all the surfaces of the marble to the possibility of it having been exposed to underwater currents. Such a possibility is not to be excluded, in which case, however, one would normally expect to find evidence of borings of minute sea creatures on some surfaces, like those found on a marble torso of an Amazon or Artemis lifted out of the sea mud in Marsa in February 1865.1 On the other hand, the tiny flecks of red and blue colour

Prof. Anthony Bonanno, B.A.(Hons) (Melit.), D.Lett. (Palermo), Ph.D. (London), FSA, is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Malta within the Department of Classics and Archaeology. He has lectured in Archaeology and Classics at the University of Malta since 1971 and paid lecturing visits to various universities in Europe, Africa, and the United States. He has also authored numerous publications on Maltese archaeology, with a special interest in prehistoric and Classical art.

Fig. 1 Small marble herm in the Palazzo Falson Collection, Mdina.

(Courtesy of Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum, Mdina / Photo: Simon Sultana Harkins)

kollox! was his constant admonition, followed by a cheery ‘and Bob’s your uncle!’. Missed but not forgotten, thanks again and always, John. Indeed, in the words of Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965): ‘At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the fame within us.’

Notes

1 See http://www.maltaimpressions.com/John%20Borg%20 Manduca.html#features16-5f.

Fig. 1 John Borg Manduca, Cottonera, oil on canvas, signed.

In the decades following the Second World War, the ArgentineItalian artist Lucio Fontana (1899–1968) became singularly concerned with the creative possibilities of the hole or cut (taglio); a hallmark of his artistic career and with which he is almost exclusively and synonymously associated to this day. This crucial phase of Fontana’s artistic output coincides with a period of transition following the devastation of the war, a phase suspended between the reality of the threat of modernity to human freedom and fraternity and, on the other end, the promising reach of technological and scientific development.

As it were, the radical gesture of making a hole or cut in the canvas was, therefore, the necessary step after which, Fontana claims, ‘we are free to do whatever we want.’1 Or, in an eschatological sense, herein lies the knowledge that the gestureimage is not an end but, indeed, the beginning of something new, thus liberating the artist and the beholder in a human creative mission which ‘can now be carried on in tranquillity, detachment and freedom appropriate to the penultimate.’2

The acceptance that man’s creative gesture—as with destruction—is not absolute since it lacks total finality implies that art may be viewed as a continuous process of becoming precisely because of its inability to be final, even though it is nonetheless grounded in mortality—a distinction which Fontana and his peers were careful to make in the Primo Manifesto. Here the gesture was hailed as an eternal act which transcends matter and, effectively, all that is conceived in a particular time and space. The solution to the crisis of art in the mid-twentieth century was thus, according to this view, to be found in the integration of time and space through the unifying act of the gesture—as an act of progression towards totality.3

Excerpt from the entry on this artwork, written by Giulia Privitelli, in the exhibition catalogue of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti’s forthcoming exhibition, In Search of Line, opening to the public in late Spring at 275, St Paul’s Street, Valletta— Patrimonju’s new administration and gallery premises where a permanent collection of Victor Pasmore’s works will be displayed while also serving as a space for the setup of temporary exhibitions related to Maltese modern art .

Notes

1 Lucio Fontana quoted in Tommaso Trini, “ Te Last Interview Given By Fontana,” in W. Beeren and N. Serota, eds, Lucio Fontana, exhibition catalogue (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1987), 34.

2 Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology, Death and Eternal Life, Aidan Nichols, ed., Michael Waldstein, trans. (Washington: Te Catholic University of America Press, 1988), 170.

3 Cf. Joppolo Beniamino, Lucio Fontana, et al., Primo Manifesto dello Spazialismo (Milan: Galleria del Naviglio, 1947), par. 1.

The Cover

IN SEARCH OF LINE

A Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti Exhibition

Opening soon at the new Victor Pasmore Gallery, St Paul’s Street, Valletta.

Moving away from the objets d’art formula exhibition FPM has now become synonymous with, our next exhibition endeavour will see one of history of art’s greatest subjects of exploration: the line. Both on the page as well as into space and time, the line has manifested itself in many ways, from drawing to weaving, writing, mark-making, singing, and storytelling. In Search of Line will explore these fascinations and break down ‘line’ to its core elements and explore the artist’s drive to create and represent images, meanings, and emotions through line. The line is often a trace of a manual gesture, a trace of the free expression of artistic thought, the expression of the artist’s ideas and impressions. Through the works of the local modern artists, together with Victor Pasmore himself, this exhibition will aim to take us out for a walk, just as Klee’s line does, and freely explore and understand the vast spectrum which is line.

As with all our exhibitions, the Foundation is collaborating with a number of contemporary artists whom we have invited to engage with various aspects of the curatorial narrative, both within and outside of the exhibition space.

For more information head to www.victorpasmoregallery.com.

Lucio Fontana, from the Concetti Spaziali series, 29 x 29cm (w/o frame), canvas cut with a Stanley knife, c. 1958–1968. (Private Collection, Malta / Photo: Lisa Attard)

Oliver Friggieri (27 March 1947 – 21 November 2020), the well-known Maltese poet, novelist, literary critic, and philosopher, ofen spread the two polar colours of politics. In each of the two cases, the colour in itself translated into a number of relevant associations and inferences for the corresponding partisanship, so much so that it becomes iconic in its signifcance of political belonging—almost tribal—for the party to be understood more as a club than an organ of a political programme. Tis article is written to explore the philosophical vision of the author as refected in various literary texts in favour of a more harmonious environment, genuinely humane, and sincere in its empathy with the fundamental needs of the people, and the values that he embraced, and still conveys, through the art of word.

I aim to examine Friggieri’s poetic consciousness and examine it as a representative and empathetic sensibility that dramatises injustices, violent episodes, and the stagnation of the political system. In his autobiography Fjuri li ma Jinxfux, Oliver Friggieri explicitly articulates his political sensibility which he then conveys in more indirect and insinuating ways with lyrics, for example, through the lyrical address where Friggieri empathises with the fgure of the Self and assimilates in it the grief of others, even if he built it with dehumanising, unimaginable, and self-ironic metaphors that, efectively, refect the treatment of the Other on the same Self. Te poet explains how Raymond Caruana’s and Karin Grech’s homicides lef a huge impact on him as a writer.1 Tese observations are gathered in one argument: this is Friggieri who gave up his voice to the af icted multitude, this is the amplifcation of the mufed voice.

A Politician beyond Politics

Oliver Friggieri (1947–2020)

Romilda Pace

Friggieri ofen explained how an author may not agree with anyone, not even with himself, while the politician has to build everything on consensus. Tis demonstrates the several candidacy proposals that he turned down, notably Eddie Fenech Adami’s for the elections in 1981 and 1987. Despite his sincere belief that politics is a tool that can be used for good, he had always struggled to comprehend how someone could be a member of a political party that entirely rejects the views of its opponent. As a result, he disregarded such approaches on the advise of his friends Godfrey Grima and Pawlu Mizzi.2

Tere are other lyrical moments when the political profle is built through historical references, brought for the most part in the form of a politico-intellectual confrontation itself translated into a number of analogies. Friggieri explains how the amendment to the Education Act of 1980, which was considered by many as a dismantling of the Old University, specifcally of the Faculties of Arts and Science, ‘showed that in Southern Europe, on the island of Malta, the social living system had only two levels: the level of those who command and the level of those who do not command.’3 Friggieri himself writes how the political violence of the seventies and eighties, encouraged him to write such political poems. He then proceeds by describing a cordial episode between him and Lino Spiteri in which he explains to him that he would like to be a politician beyond politics, like a player who plays outside the ground.4

Te connotative load in the poem ‘My Song’5 is inspired by a politicised context in favor of material gain, fostering a society considered indiferent to a poetic idiom that does not yield proft. Tis should also be considered in the background of a serious and long confrontation between the artist, the academic, or the intellectual on one side and the utilitarianism proposed as a necessary social substitute in Mintof ’s eyes: ‘Now Mintof seemed

Fig. 1

Portrait photograph of Oliver Friggieri, from the series The Face of Success (Photo: George Scintilla)