In pictures: Postcards of Malta’s beaches after independence
Swimmers’ bodies and sun-bathers’ costumes became increasingly prominent in postcard photos taken between the 1960s and 1990s
In postcard imagery of beaches and bathing, the cut-off line does not fall halfway through pre- and post-war. It would be closer to pre- and post-independence, when tourism took off massively and became one of the unchallenged mainstays of the national economy.
A previous feature documented the dearth of postcards showcasing the islands’ beaches and swimming. The post-independence tourist boom, which persists exponentially to this day, changed all that, and radically.
Early Golden Bay, by the ABC Library.
Golden Bay in a Cathedral Library postcard.
Postcard publishers from the 1960s accepted that their previous reticence to include beaches and bathers on their products had, by then, become anachronistic and prejudicial to their cash returns.
The Sheraton Hotel, Dragonara, promoted its beach amenities with this postcard.
One of the several postcards by Cathedral Library for the Dolmen Hotel, Qawra.
A Perfecta postcard of Ramla Bay, Marfa.
Ramla Bay, Marfa, in a Cathedral Library postcard.
Polychrome Malta cards had existed since the earliest times but colour photography and printing had, after the war, become cheap and routine. And gaudy colour displays gave high visibility to shoreline scenes.
The Blue Lagoon, Kemmuna, in an early Perfecta postcard.
Armier Bay, Mellieħa, postcard by the Cathedral Library.
The reluctance by publishers to add beach scenarios to their postcard outputs reflects itself in the ever-so-slow evolution of this change.
Gradually, the camera starts creeping nearer to the swimmers and sun-bathers
At first, in the 1960s, we mostly come across very wide-angle scenes of bays and swimming areas, with the bathers mere dots in the far distance. But, gradually, the camera starts creeping nearer and nearer to the swimmers and sun-bathers. A trained eye could date a postcard with reasonable accuracy by measuring how close up the human body figures were in the composition.
An Alfred Galea Zammit postcard of Ħondoq ir-Rummien, Gozo.
Għadira, Mellieħa, in an Alfred Galea Zammit postcard.
A Ramla l-Ħamra, Gozo, card by Alfred Galea Zammit.
Most of the cards illustrated in this feature date between the 1960s and the early 1990s, when the bathing costume starts claiming more prominence than the shoreline beyond it.
Most major postcard publishers included beach postcards in their periodical sets, starting from the Cathedral Library, the Import and Export Company, Alfred Galea Zammit, the ABC Library, Joseph Calleja, Click!, SinetMalta, Miller and Perfecta.
St George’s Bay, St Julian’s, in a Perfecta card.
Tigné Beach, Sliema, in a postcard by the ABC Library.
Fond Għadir beach, Sliema, by the Cathedral Library.
Laurenti Enterprises pioneered a naughtier and more osé streak.
Xlendi in Gozo, in a postcard by SinetMalta.