Maria Rossella Dalmas, John Cassar and Luigi Cassar Manghi decided to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the death of their father, Joseph Cassar (1917 to 2002) by organising an exhibition of 60 of his watercolour paintings from their respective collections.
Giuseppe Cassar was born in Hamrun in August 1917. He studied art under Arturo Galdes, at St. Aloysius' College in the 1920s. In 1936, he left Malta to study medicine at the University of Rome. After Mussolini's declaration of war in June 1940 Mr Cassar was interned as he opted to retain British citizenship.
In 1944 Alda Manghi,( his future wife) together with the partisans in the Reggio Emilia region, helped him to escape to Florence. Mr Cassar is best remembered for his career as a professional photographer. In 1945 he took over his father's photo studio in Hamrun, a business he ran until his retirement in 1981.
The first impact one gets on examining Mr Cassar's watercolours is serenity, tranquility, peacefulness and that he was a romantic at heart. It is also easy to guess his background as a photographer. He was always on the lookout for the well and less well known urban and country landscapes and sights of our islands, from a different perspective, as if looking through a camera's viewfinder.
Mr Cassar was a follower of the British school of watercolour and an admirer of French watercolorist Joel Thezard. At times his work reveals the influence of the Impressionists, occasionally he was a follower of the metaphysical art movement. He was a colorist and a reticent poet who drew the Maltese urban and country landscapes in watercolour.
This exhibition brings together watercolours which, seen in juxtaposition, compel us to look deeper and with more than ordinary attention and respect. Often his colours are transparent and diffused, one tone merging with another. The effect is delicate and persuasive. In others the shapes of landscape are clear.
Beyond doubt, architecture and the landscape were his favourite subjects. He knew that the landscape, especially that of a town is ever-changing. He made sure that his paintings establish the identity of particular areas. He knew that the recorded view of a town, at any period, is like the passport photograph of an individual. It establishes an identity for a particular moment in time. The work of Giuseppe Cassar is both subtle and full of gentle beauty and needs to be appreciated with delicacy and savoured at leisure.
• The retrospective exhibition of the works of Giuseppe Cassar, which is sponsored by Marsovin Winery and Elia Caterers. is being held at the Wignacourt Collegiate Museum in Rabat from tomorrow until December 5.
Giuseppe Cassar was born in Hamrun in August 1917. He studied art under Arturo Galdes, at St. Aloysius' College in the 1920s. In 1936, he left Malta to study medicine at the University of Rome. After Mussolini's declaration of war in June 1940 Mr Cassar was interned as he opted to retain British citizenship.
In 1944 Alda Manghi,( his future wife) together with the partisans in the Reggio Emilia region, helped him to escape to Florence. Mr Cassar is best remembered for his career as a professional photographer. In 1945 he took over his father's photo studio in Hamrun, a business he ran until his retirement in 1981.
The first impact one gets on examining Mr Cassar's watercolours is serenity, tranquility, peacefulness and that he was a romantic at heart. It is also easy to guess his background as a photographer. He was always on the lookout for the well and less well known urban and country landscapes and sights of our islands, from a different perspective, as if looking through a camera's viewfinder.
Mr Cassar was a follower of the British school of watercolour and an admirer of French watercolorist Joel Thezard. At times his work reveals the influence of the Impressionists, occasionally he was a follower of the metaphysical art movement. He was a colorist and a reticent poet who drew the Maltese urban and country landscapes in watercolour.
This exhibition brings together watercolours which, seen in juxtaposition, compel us to look deeper and with more than ordinary attention and respect. Often his colours are transparent and diffused, one tone merging with another. The effect is delicate and persuasive. In others the shapes of landscape are clear.
Beyond doubt, architecture and the landscape were his favourite subjects. He knew that the landscape, especially that of a town is ever-changing. He made sure that his paintings establish the identity of particular areas. He knew that the recorded view of a town, at any period, is like the passport photograph of an individual. It establishes an identity for a particular moment in time. The work of Giuseppe Cassar is both subtle and full of gentle beauty and needs to be appreciated with delicacy and savoured at leisure.
• The retrospective exhibition of the works of Giuseppe Cassar, which is sponsored by Marsovin Winery and Elia Caterers. is being held at the Wignacourt Collegiate Museum in Rabat from tomorrow until December 5.