TAMARA FENECH, the granddaughter of artist Frank Portelli tells Fiona Galea Debono why she is inviting audiences behind the scenes of a low-key pioneer of modern art in Malta.

Frank Portelli was a private man with “quiet energy” but his meticulous approach to documenting his art has convinced his granddaughter Tamara Fenech to fling open to the public the doors of his former studio.

Twenty years after his death, audiences of the interdisciplinary project Frank u Jien (Frank and I) will get a glimpse into the mind of Portelli, a co-founder of the Malta Modern Art Circle in 1951.

The sold-out project, supported by the Arts Council Malta, takes place in the late artist’s studio-archive in Attard between February 15 and 25.

Portelli distinguished himself not only as an artist but also as an interior designer, and became renowned for two important artistic developments, known as Crystallised Cubism and his Contours series.

His seminal work is La Vie (1951), which depicts a pivotal episode in his life – the death of his father as a result of a botched-up surgical intervention seven years earlier.

The artist left behind a lifetime treasure trove of all his possessions, from diaries to notebooks and sketches to captioned photographs, in his intact original studio above the house he designed.

“We are lucky we have the space. Unfortunately, there are many beautiful buildings like artist Emvin Cremona’s just round the corner that are derelict,” Fenech said.

“As a family, we are trying to set models for others to do the same because I believe there must be so many untapped archives on the island.”

It is not the first private archive that has been made public, but it is the first time a family is taking the initiative to do this themselves, rather than donate it to a foundation.

While he was a very private man, Portelli’s meticulous approach to recording everything was a sign that he wanted to exhibit it, his granddaughter maintains.

Fenech has fond memories of her grandfather, who died when she was 12.

She admitted to an internal conflict over whether to open up the space he worked in – and which she has now converted into her home.

“It has been one of my biggest challenges throughout this whole archiving journey over the past three years, especially now that we are coming up to the show.

“I keep coming to the question, which has given me some anxiety: How can I still honour him and his quiet, selective and high-principled nature, while celebrating his work?”

Staying true to his vision

Fenech has been reassured by family members and collaborators that leaving an archive like he did behind meant nannu had intentions for something to happen with it.

“I will always be checking in with this; not straying too far away from what nannu is… He was not able to promote himself in the way we believe he deserved.

“I am no expert in archiving, but with the experience I have had over the last three years, I understand that opening up an untapped archive is a massive and daunting experience for a family member,” Fenech said.

“Nannu died 20 years ago, and it is only now that we can share fragments of his archive,” she added.

“When an artist leaves this world and his studio intact, for the family to go through, that is a big emotional toll,” Fenech said.

Other challenges included finding funding and the energy for the task.

I believe there must be so many untapped archives on the island- Tamara Fenech

“I feel that serendipity got me here; that nannu literally picked me and placed me.”

The fact her family was open to her idea was a big push, Fenech said.

The sacred space

Portelli would spend every single waking hour in his studio, his “safe haven and sacred space”.

“It was full of things everywhere – a proper artist’s studio; super organised but with that creative messiness that only he would be able to understand what was where.

“I always felt curious and intrigued by ‘what is in all these boxes and on these shelves’,” she said.

“I always felt there was way more than his body of work in this space, and with the archive now, we are proving there is so much more than just his art.”

One thing the team has realised from the archive is that Portelli and his contemporaries wanted to push boundaries.

“Even though we are talking about the 1940s and 1950s, we still want the same things; higher standards for our country and for things to change,” Fenech said.

“Nannu had a sentiment that Malta was always delayed; having to catch up with the rest of the world. He was concerned about time: Would it be too late once we catch up? He understood we were behind the rest of the world.”

When you look at an archive, you must do so in its entirety and see how one thing leads to the next; how his artwork reflects the thoughts in his diary, Fenech said.

This was kickstarted in 2007, when researcher and art historian Elizabeth Isabelle Borg did her master’s thesis on Portelli and spent four years in his studio as he left it when he died in 2004.

His archive shows that at a time when artists were mostly commissioned by the Church, Portelli was pushing boundaries and bringing politics into his art. It was a time when a new generation of artists started bringing in social issues, and Portelli did not shy away from this because art had to have meaning.

The books he read were always a bit more “forward”, as were the lights and furniture the interior designer used to import.

Closing the gaps on history of art in Malta

The upcoming theatrical performance, Frank u Jien (Frank and I), is aimed at bringing Portelli to today’s public and is not just a personal project.

“We also know that when you share such a big body of work, there is room for inspiration for those receiving it and it also closes the gaps on history of art in Malta, particularly in that period,” Fenech explained.

Antoine Camilleri, Gabriel Caruana, Victor Diacono and a bit later Pawl Carbonaro were all “giants” in that era, but Portelli was always the more reserved.

Frank u Jien started in 2020 in the run-up to Portelli’s centenary in 2022, as a research and development project, involving curator Andrew Borg Wirth.

“I did not want a white-wall exhibition with his paintings and a placard explaining them. So, we went for a site-specific piece in this space. I had just moved in, so I was not super attached to my home and that helped,” Fenech recounts.

The focus is the beginning of the 1950s, when Portelli had just returned from London, got married, had his first child and painted La Vie.

Ten artifacts that helped the writing of the script were picked out and will be part the setting – an intimate theatre in the round.

The sold-out performance, directed by Becky Camilleri with a script in Maltese by Maria Theuma, lies between theatre and exhibition, and the programme also includes an archive tour and public lecture.