On the occasion of the 135th anniversary since the death of the great French artist Edouard Manet (1832-1883), the Department of Art and Art History of the University of Malta is collaborating on an important exhibition which will be held in Gozo. Entitled Manet Etchings: The Alfred Strölin Edition of 1905, the collection comprises thirty works which were printed posthumously by this important German collector and dealer in Paris from the original plates by Manet. The plates were eventually cancelled by Strölin himself to avoid further impressions. The exhibition comes directly from Urbino, where it was recently exhibited in the native house of Raphael, under the prestigious patronage of the Accademia Raffaello of the same city. It is the very first time that works by this art giant, who shook the international art world with his paintings in the 1860s, are being exhibited in Malta.
The exhibition is co-curated by Dr Mark Sagona, visiting lecturer in the Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, together with Dr Chiara Gatti, a prominent Italian curator and art historian of modern and contemporary art.
The exhibition is being organised by Italian art dealer Valerio Ballotta in conjunction with Abraham’s Arte under the distinguished patronage and the collaboration of the Ministry for Gozo, the Accademia Raffaello of Urbino, the Department of Art and Art History of the University of Malta, the Galleria Ceribelli of Bergamo, the Arts Council Malta, and is endorsed by Valletta 2018.
Manet’s experimental and innovative graphic production is considered seminal in the development of the printing medium, in particular etching and lithography. Most of the etchings included in this exhibition were produced in the early 1860s in the tremendously important years which led to the production of some of the artist’s most notorious paintings.
A catalogue with essays by Dr Sagona and Dr Gatti will be published. The exhibition will be officially inaugurated on 29 April, the eve of Manet’s death anniversary, and will be open to the public from Monday 30 April to Sunday 20 May 2018, Monday to Friday 08:30-1630; Saturday and Sunday 09:00-12:00.
In conjunction with this exhibition, another collection entitled Graphic Works by the Great Masters, will be shown at the Art & Events Suite at the Vini e Capricci complex at the Gozitano Agricultural Village, Mgarr Road, Xewkija. This comes hot on the heels of another similar event held last November entitled "Picasso and his friends". The works in this exhibition include etchings and other graphic works by some of the greatest names in Western Art, including Dürer, Rembrandt, Canaletto and Goya. This exhibition will be inaugurated on Saturday 28 April at 11:00 and will be open from Monday to Saturday 11:00-16:00 till 19 May.
