‘Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti’: new waves on the shore
Maurice de Giorgio was the chair of FPM for 23 years
A decade since his demise, and just over two since he founded Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti (FPM), we recall Maurice de Giorgio as an iconic cultural visionary; a man with a forceful conviction and commitment to always attain perfection in whatever he undertook.
Although unwavering in his mission, his approach and demeanour were always a paragon of courtesy and decorum, for Maurice was the epitome of elegance in both action and attire.
Under 23 years of his chairmanship, FPM matured into a flagship beacon to ignite our island’s artistic heritage. With refined conviction and gentle persuasion, he was able to entice private patrons to lend their treasures for the institution’s temporary exhibitions organised under his baton. This opened the door to works and artefacts previously unseen to be displayed and shared by the public.
The excellently laid out exhibitions of Maltese furniture, costumes, sedan chairs, silver and jewellery were masterclasses of how to showcase invaluable and precious artworks and objects. More important and more permanent was FPM’s takeover in 2001 of Palazzo Falson in Mdina, with its Olaf Gollcher collection. To restore the building, and organise the exhibition of its 3,500 items, Maurice dedicated six years to what today is a prodigious national treasure.
Today, FPM is extending its founder’s mission in new ventures to foster and promote works of established Maltese 20th century artists and carry their legacy to the future. As a passionate collector of his period’s local art, Maurice would have enthused at these new openings. With these initiatives, FPM continues to be a pharos illuminating the cultural scene of our land.
It is currently now cared for and tended with its founder’s similar hands of reverence by Michael Lowell and his stalwart team. For all of this, Maurice would surely have been more than grateful for the guiding of his dream to further innovative pastures.
The recent Victor Pasmore and Emvin Cremona Glass Collages exhibitions in FPM’s state-of-the-art new premises, if not on the scale of FPM’s previous ones, are still superb exemplars of how to display artworks.
Were Maurice still with us today he would surely shed a tear for the despoilation of our once beautiful ‘din l-art ħelwa’; on the other hand, he would have hailed and applauded FPM’s new ventures.
For the legacy Maurice bequeathed to the nation and his nurturing it for 23 years we remain grateful. It is now being rekindled, nurtured and carried forward with the same dedication under its new stewardship.
Maurice would surely have said: ‘Thank you for your carrying FPM’s vision to the future’. Ad multos annos!