ARTWORKS ON LOAN

This preliminary bozzetto captures the initial vision Vincent Apap (1909-2003) had for the Triton Fountain in Valletta.

The Triton’s Fountain (Il-Funtana tat-Tritoni) sits on a former outwork bastion site and is an outstanding example of Maltese Modernist architecture. In 1953, the Ministry for Public Works and Reconstruction launched a competition to design a fountain to replace the bastion. Vincent Apap’s winning proposal, Triton, was designed in collaboration with designer and draughtsman Victor Anastasi, who headed the technical aspects of the fountain.
The Triton Fountain took seven years to complete and was officially turned on for the first activated on the 16th of May 1959.

Victor Diacono (1915-2009) was a Maltese sculptor, caricaturist and painter who primarily received recognition for his distinctive figurative sculptures. 

Stylistically, Diacono’s sculptures convey an atmospheric and poetic dimension, which together with the organic selective concealment of figures, defines Diacono’s sculptural output.

Josef Kalleya was an influential figure throughout the history of Maltese Modern Art. His artistic journey was a long and prolific one, and a stand-alone example of a consistent and ceaseless idealistic vision.

He was co-founder of the Modern Art Circle (a.k.a. Modern Art Group and eventually Atelier ’56) an instrumental group in the promotion of Modern Art in Malta.

Isabelle Borg (1959–2010) was a British-Maltese painter who studied painting at the Camberwell College of Arts in London and taught art at the University of Malta. She spent periods of her life in Ireland, Berlin and Malta, where she established the Moviment Mara Maltija (Maltese Women’s Movement). 

Cairo Desert Heat (V2–V1) is a two-sided abstract painting completed during a phase of geometric and abstract exploration. It is reminiscent of a trip to Cairo she embarked on in 1991. Underneath the surface of this dual painting lies a muted male figure, believed to be a former partner. Borg’s decision to erase and obscure him adds a muted layer of tension, using art as a space of transformation, memory and emotional resolution.

Cairo Desert Heat offers an examination of Borg’s inner world, ingrained in experience – the artist left the interpretation up to viewers to determine.