The watercolour medium, although very unforgiving, is characterised by a freshness and an immediacy that can be somewhat limited when using acrylics or oils. Its inherent transparency documents the stages of the creative process, one in which the artist has to be disciplined as mistakes cannot be easily rectified since it doesn’t really allow for pentimenti.

Marvic Muscat

#MALTESEMUSE is an exhibition of drawings and paintings by Marvic Muscat that demonstrates the artist’s dexterity with the medium through a series of works that elicit feelings of nostalgia and pride for our country’s heritage, be it its urban fabric, its traditions or its folklore.

The Gozitan artist documents en-plein-air life as if time stood still and the ravages of progress haven’t still impacted the peaceful well-being of whole communities. Muscat’s art is a paean to a lost world which nowadays can be glimpsed only occasionally in our country. He eliminates most elements of so-called progress such as cars, extravagant shop signs, high-rise buildings and other intrusions to bring to the fore redeeming factors that should define and make us proud of our country.

For the Gozitan artist, contemporary Maltese watercolourist Henry Alamango is a like-minded soul, tackling similar themes while demonstrating a pronounced sensitivity and mastery of the medium. There is an artistic dialogue going on between the two artists through the sharing of concepts and technical knowledge of such an uncompromising medium to enrich each other’s art. Muscat is known to express himself in different media,  ranging from sculpting in stone to painting and design, where he is proficient in several mediums − from watercolour to pastels, acrylics to ink and others too. However, in this particular exhibition, watercolour is his medium of choice.

A Ride Around Valletta

The emblematic title that the artist chose for his exhibition clearly shows that Malta itself is the muse behind this collection of works or, rather, the essence or Malteseness that has become woven through the centuries in the fabric of our country. We have lost this sense of identity steadily due to a process of dubious reinvention that has laid waste to our country’s past, colourful history and legacy.

In Returning Home, Valletta, Muscat draws on a repertoire of Maltese seascapes that stretch back to the 19th century. The Schranz and Gianni families of artists among others, and Vincenzo d’Esposito later on, have captured so eloquently the changing nuances, the moods of the weather and the general mercantile activity of the Grand and Marsamxett harbours.

Muscat delivers a timeless message

Morning Prayers at Charity Str, Victoria

Muscat similarly captures an impression of the capital city which has stood steadfast amid strife, war and political upheavals. However, the yacht and the speedboat have replaced the military and mercantile flotilla that were portrayed by the artists of previous centuries. The stealth and the grace of the two seacraft, symbols of modernism, are counterbalanced by the traditional frejgatina, a reminder of ages past when human brawn and the wind, not powerful motors, moved most seaworthy craft. 

Muscat delivers a timeless message, evoking American artist Winslow Homer’s in its freshness. The steadfastness of Valletta, notwithstanding all, and the lowly traditional boat that still ploughs the silky waters of the historic harbour are witnesses of an emphatic timelessness and a resistance to change.

A Ride Around Valletta offers another aspect of the capital city. The traditional horse-drawn carriage persists as a symbol to the past, a time when it was not necessary to own a polluting car for transportation. The signs of the business establishments and other enterprises are a stern reminder that time has not stood still in the city “built by gentlemen for gentlemen”. 

St Andrew’s Str, Victoria

Nowadays, more so in pre-COVID times, the carriage is an attraction that invites tourists to take a ride around the streets of the capital city and take in the various sites from an elevated viewpoint. Muscat effectively captures the mood of a wintry rainy day through the sullen sky and the wet slippery flagstones.

The love for Gozo, his home, is loving portrayed in the sometimes not-so-innocent fun of the Nadur carnival. Through the joie de vivre portrayed, Muscat evokes Edward Caruana Dingli’s interpretation of folkloristic occasions that peppered, and still do so to this day, the Maltese islands’ calendar of events.

In Nadur Spontaneous Carnival, Muscat enriched the narrative power of the painting by depicting a dark overcast sky brimming with meteorological turmoil. The dome of the Nadur parish church gives context as regards time and place. The velvety, black clouds menace to drench the merry crowd with an imminent downpour which would dampen the enthusiasm and the silliness. It is as though the heavens do not approve of the show of reckless abandon on the eve of the solemn celebration of Ash Wednesday.

Early Walk at Lunzjata Valley

Paintings like Morning Prayers at Charity Str, Victoria and Early Walk at Lunzjata Valley are an ache for an uncontaminated way of life, reminiscent of the work of Gianni Vella and his nostalgia for a simple arcadian past. A past in which saints on pedestals out in the open pristine countryside and others in the ornate niches in our towns and villages invited the simple folk to prayer at different times of the day.

Nadur Spontaneous Carnival

In the latter work of Muscat, a solitary reader, engrossed in his prayers, and a miniscule, caged bird offer contrasting but honest narratives of a normal Gozitan day in summer.

When looking at the #MALTESEMUSE collection of paintings, the best words to describe Muscat’s work are Winslow Homer’s own: “You have the sky overhead giving one light; then the reflected light from whatever reflects; then the direct light of the sun; so that, in the blending and suffusing of these several luminations, there is no such thing as a line to be seen anywhere.”

The Gozitan artist delivers this by all accounts.

#MALTESEMUSE is hosted by the Banca Giuratale of Independence Square, Victoria. It opened yesterday and will run until February 22. Admission is free.

The Maltese Archipelago