Frans Galea (1945-1994) : a critical gazetteer of his works

Abstract

This study is an attempt to analyze the life and work of the Maltese sculptor Frans Galea and to produce a critical gazetteer of his surviving works. The dissertation was structured on four chapters with an introduction and a conclusion. The latter two contextualize the artist into the Maltese cultural milieu and when it was necessary, into a European setting. It tries to evaluate a broad range of possible influences that might have affected the artists; starting from the natural Maltese landscape to modernism in Malta. It deals on how Malta developed two distinctive town centres of sculptural production : that of Valletta and Rabata. As the latter had a strong tradition in carving, it could explain Frans Galea’s attachment to wood carving since he was born and raised in Rabat. Taking Galea as a reference point, the introduction analyses to what extent the new generation of artists felt the repercussions of the new ideas on aesthetics brought about by the Modern Art Circle.