The newly minted Malta International Contemporary Arts Space (MICAS) will be adding a newly commissioned sculpture by the celebrated Raymond Pitrè to its permanent collection, the museum announced on Friday.
Pitrè, who died in November, completed his final work Figure in Rods which will be housed at MICAS.
Washington-based Maltese art historian Joseph Paul Cassar will be curating a temporary display exhibition, which will open on January 9 alongside the sculpture's inauguration.
Cassar will also be giving a talk about Figure in Rods on January 11. Entry to the event is free but booking is required.
“MICAS consulted closely with Pitrè on the bronze rendering of Figure In Rods and its permanent position on the museum’s campus. We are pleased that his exact wishes for its realisation and placement have been honoured, and we are only saddened that he did not live long enough to witness its inauguration,” said MICAS Artistic Director Edith Devaney.
“To visitors to MICAS, this poignant piece encapsulates an unparalleled ability to explore profound psychological and emotional themes, and will be a constant reminder of and testament to Pitrè’s achievement.”
Hosted on the museum's fourth floor, the Pitrè exhibition will feature other drawings, paintings and smaller sculptures by Pitrè that relate to Figure in Rods.
Pitré’s work has been exhibited internationally in London, Berlin, Florence, Copenhagen, Brussels, Palermo, Algiers, New York and Kyoto. He represented Malta at the Venice Biennale in 1999, and his work is housed in national collections and other institutions.
Born in 1940 soon after the first air raids on Malta started during World War II, Pitrè has credited the surrealism of Salvador Dalì as his first brush with international art.
He first joined a monastic order in a short-lived stint, but he finally joined the police force while pursuing his artistic career.
It was while working in the police force that he made his mark as one of the island’s foremost portrait painters: he was called up by a senior ranking police officer to execute the portrait of then-prime minister, Dom Mintoff, in 1973.
The success of this portrait, his first such work, opened him up to a new commission of the portrait of Sir Anthony Mamo, Malta’s first President of the Republic.
His first personal exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in 1976 brought him public acclaim, allowing him to set up his large studio in Swieqi to devote his life entirely to art.
In 1999, Pitrè was chosen together with Vince Briffa and Norbert Attard for the Malta national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, with two magnificent Guerriero sculptures.
He was made a Member of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta in 2000 for services to art.