Frank Portelli (1922-2004), a pioneer in the development of Maltese modern and contemporary art, would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. He distinguished himself not only as an artist but equally as an interior designer, as well as a designer of murals, postage stamps, posters, and floats and masks for Carnival.

To commemorate his art and life, MUŻA (Heritage Malta) organised a talk and discussion dedi­cated to Frank Portelli, held on December 16, and an exhibition that opened on December 9. For this exhibition, the Portelli family opted to present Portelli’s multi-faceted career as an artist and designer, from early painterly works created in the 1940s to the last murals designed in the same year he passed on.

Art and design: the multi-faceted Life of Frank Portelli

Frank Portelli is considered among the foremost exponents of the modern idiom in 20th-century Maltese art but very few are aware of his various accomplishments in design, and the exhibition at MUŻA gives a taste of this.

Like his contemporaries, Portelli started studying art at the Government School of Art in Valletta in 1935, where he imme­diately distinguished himself among the top students. In 1947, he sat for the final examination at the Government School of Art to earn a scholarship to further his studies abroad, which he won, and proceeded to Leicester Colleges of Art and Technology. A year later he moved to Kennington College. While in England he took part in several competitions and exhibited at the Colonial Exhibition in London.

Back in Malta in 1950, Portelli, together with Joe F. Muscat and Joseph M. Borg Xuereb, co-founded the Modern Art Circle and was elected as the honorary secretary. Meetings and discussions on fostering modern art in Malta were held at the Café Malata, Premiere, and at Café Cordina, in Valletta in 1951. The Modern Art Circle exhibited for the first time at the Palazzo de la Salle in 1952, but it was in 1953 that they exhibited as a group at the Hostel De Verdelin, Civil Service Sports Club, Valletta.

By the early 1950s, Portelli started winning competitions related to poster design and interior decoration, which events were followed by the commission for a mural for the Central Office of Information in 1956. These events marked Portelli’s oeuvre in his artistic life and working profession since he might have realised that he could combine the two to earn a living, especially after being praised by Eric Newton (1893-1965), an influential English critic who delivered a lecture on art at the time.

It was only in 1963 that Portelli resigned from his post at the Air Ministry to take up interior design as his full-time job. This was a radical decision taken by an artist at a time when most of his contemporaries were teachers, and within a context when Malta was pressing for independence and his main clients might have to leave the islands soon. In the meantime, he kept on exhibiting widely in Malta and abroad.

In 1958, he had the opportunity to display his works in two very important exhibitions. The first was at the Commonwealth Institute Exhibition in South Kensington, London. This was possible following Newton’s recommendation to hold an exhibition of Maltese artists in the UK capital entitled Paintings from Malta. It was inaugurated in 1958 with an opening speech by Newton.

The second occasion was the Biennale di Venezia, which was the first time ever that a collective exhibition of Maltese contemporary art took place in this renowned event. Malta featured as one of the six guest countries to be hosted, in this case by the Italian Pavilion, located in the historic quay leading to Via degli Schiavoni. Both events were key initiatives of Atelier ’56 to explore the possibility of showing Maltese works abroad.

The 1960s was also a highly productive decade for Portelli. It was during this period that he developed constructivist compositions, a style that could easily be combined with his design projects. During the same decade, he was commissioned important interior design projects, including the conversion of the interior of the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard, the Whiskey a Gogo in Sliema, and the Dragut and Piali restaurants. He also designed and solved design issues for Coleiro’s Tavern, a restaurant at Pinto Stores whose project is presented at MUŻA.

He had so many commissions that by 1967-8 he had moved his design practice, which he called Studioportelli, to his first office in two rooms at Kingsway Palace in Valletta. Portelli travelled extensively and attended design fairs, such as the Triennale of Interior Design and the Salone del Mobile in Milan. One also must mention that Portelli imported design items, such as sitting and lighting design objects which were included in his projects.

For all art lovers and historians, Portelli will always be remembered for two important artistic developments, which were Crystallised Cubism and the Contours series

For all art lovers and historians, Portelli will always be remembered for two important artistic developments, which were Crystallised Cubism and the Contours series. Following his return to Malta and his first solo exhibition at Royal Malta Library in 1950-51, Portelli began showing angular flat formal elements, which led to his cubist style which is visible across his artistic portfolio ranging from paintings, drawings, murals and posters to stamp designs. This style was visible until Portelli developed constructivist compositions which consequently led to the birth of the Contours series, a style developed through Portelli’s fascination with landscape contours, which he also explored when working while plotting maps for the Air Ministry.

Portelli’s art initiatives, distinctive style and innovative design ideas left a huge impact on the local scene, which are also reflected in the decorated basilica of Senglea and the church dedicated to St Theresa in Birkirkara.

Exhibition to commemorate Frank Portelli 100 years from his birth

MUŻA (Heritage Malta), in collaboration with Frank Portelli’s family, organised a talk and an exhibition to celebrate the artist’s many achievements. This exhibition, curated by the family, presents Portelli’s various accomplishments, some of which still require a lot of research.

The first set of works on exhibit are several portraits created between the 1940s and the early 1950s. Among the portraits, there is the Portrait of Artist’s Brother (undated), Portrait of Rosa Engaged in Reading (1951), Self-Portrait (dated 1948) and Portrait of a Girl (dated 1947-8), all depicted in a romantic, highly representative style. In contrast to these portraits, there is on exhibit Portrait of Antoine (dated 1951), which is in a semi-cubist style reflecting his immediate future approach to painting which marked his first key works.

Another section of the exhibition is dedicated to his grotesque Carnival masks, cars and costumes. Portelli was very successful in his submission of designs between the 1950s till the 1980s. The sketch designs on exhibit are from the Fauns and the Mermaids project created in 1956, and Checkmate Carnival Masks created in 1958. A grotesque mask that complemented the carnival float Gay Balloons is also exhibited. The latter is an example of an innovative technique used by Portelli when he introduced wire strands (firdiferru) and bamboo strips to create the skeleton of the mask.

Another important section is the interior design and design section. Most of the works on exhibit were never shown before; these include the commercial sketch designs and elevations for Coleiro Wine Tavern interiors, Metropole Hotel Tavern, and HMS Phoenicia Manoel Island’s restaurant, all dated between the late 1950s and the 1960s.

A section in this exhibition is also dedicated to Portelli’s poster and stamp designs, including Holy Week (dated 1955) poster, and two different bozzettos representing Europa ’76 Postage Stamp, and drawings representing Scenography for St Paul’s Pageant, which was held in the 1960 at the Empire Stadium, Gżira. For this pageant, the stadium was converted into a pentagon-shaped open-air theatre to host the Pauline pageantry, which was in three acts.

Two paintings and a trophy from the important series Contours also form part of this exhibition. This set of works turn their attention to the artist’s early years of employment with the Air Ministry, but they also contain additional painterly elements that contribute to his long succession of works. The works on exhibit are Contour No. XLII (42) and Contours No. XXXI (31), both created in 1974, and the Stubbs trophy commissioned by Mr Stubbs for the Malta Air Rally.

The last set of drawings and works that are on exhibit are dedi­cated to a set of murals created by the artist. Frank Portelli is key to the development of mural art in Malta; in fact, one of his key works is on permanent display at MUŻA. For the commemorative exhibition, the visitors have the opportunity of seeing a series of drawings including a full-size drawing of Misericordia (dated 2004), which is Portelli’s last unfinished mural, together with drawings representing Fishing Nets (dated 1959). The Triumph of Neptune (dated 1960) is also featured. For this work, two drawings and the ongoing restored work are exhibited. The latter work was recently acquired by MUŻA (Heritage Malta) and is currently being restored by Heritage Malta’s Restoration Department.

Together with the above-mentioned artworks, personal items owned by the artist, including his easels, are also being exhibi­ted till January 8 in the Camerone, MUŻA, Valletta.

Katya Micallef is principal curator of modern and contemporary art at MUŻA ‒ Malta National Community Art Museum.