The artwork for promotional publicity had, in early Malta, often been commissioned to competent painters; in this particular sector, the domestic poster output generally compares quite favourably with its counterparts in the rest of Europe.

Artwork by the painter Ġanni Vella for the 1913 International Eucharistic Congress.

Artwork by Emvin Cremona for a Malta Tourist Board poster issued in 1956.

My interest in posters mainly arose from the fact that, in some cases, the same artwork served both for posters and for postcards. I know of fine examples by our more prominent artists – Ġanni Vella, Edward Caruana Dingli, Emvin Cremona and others – turning up both as postcards and as posters.

A Grand Harbour scene advertising the Hamburg-Amerika cruise liners. One of the earliest, c. 1900.

Maltese ‘popular’ art rarely flirted with the avant garde but a number of local poster artists in the 1930s came up with extraordinary examples of bold art deco graphics. It is a great pity that some of the best ones are not signed. They could not rely on computer support then.

The organisers of the 1938 National Eucharistic Congress published this as a postcard and a poster.

Though posters mainly promoted commercial activities, like air services, tourist amenities or the sale of consumer desirables, some, equally fine, publicised religious events, such as the 1913 and the 1938 Eucharistic congresses and the 1949 Marian Congress. 

A British European Airways 1957 poster and postcard. Artwork by Laurence Bagely

The abuse of posters reached its nadir in Malta when no police discipline regulated the pasting of printed political propaganda directly on public wall spaces during election times.

Malta’s poster for the 1924 Wembley British Empire exhibition. Central panel by Edward Caruana Dingli.

I am publishing a depressing photo to remind readers how political posters joyfully vandalised Valletta – indispensable components of election campaigns. Thankfully, that uncouth visual pollution now belongs to the past.

A poster by the Malta Government Tourist Board

French promotion of Malta as a tourist resort. Poster and postcard

Another postcard and poster to advertise Malta in the French tourist market.

I am including poster artwork by both local and foreign graphic designers, so long as the subject has an evident Malta connection. I am not aware that domestic poster art has been studied in depth and I suggest it would be a rewarding project for one of our gifted history of art students.

More spectacular artwork by an unidentified painter for the 1938 National Eucharistic Congress.