The unreality of realism : an insular perspective on the development of modern art

Abstract

Maltese modern art has been a topic of contentious public and academic debate for a few years now. Publications and exhibitions are not lacking, neither are student dissertations in the University of Malta library collection. The trouble with all this activity, as is quite natural in research fora, is that discourse has generally succumbed to the limitations of rooted conventions. Narrow methodology, popular interest, and, most perilously, the satisfaction of exercising simple comparative models have precluded the articulation of pertinent concepts for the study of Maltese art of the twentieth century, particularly within a comparative capacity. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci’s ambition to address the lacunae and misgivings of the subject, to evolve its language and categories, has carved an exciting, erudite academic path. Objective and critical analyses committed to presenting the actualities of historical and aesthetic experience are, for a complexity of reasons, a rarity in modern art historical scholarship. Non-conformist positions stir the well-documented ideas that illustrate Schembri Bonaci’s worldview. This critical study replete with various references is a very brave work that begins with the premise that art “is a form of power in itself.” Truth, Schembri Bonaci asserts, emerges from the relationship between art and power, and art’s readiness to oppose or challenge the form of power it addresses. [Excerpt from the Preface by Prof. Ilia Galán]