In Search Of Line: Valletta Exhibition Delves Into The Historical Manifestation Of Drawing
In Search Of Line is the latest exhibition by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malta (FPM), currently showing at the newly-inaugurated Victor Pasmore Gallery in Valletta, exploring the nature and manifestation of the line throughout art history.
This collective show delves into the essence of the line and its evolution over time—a subject that has captivated artists across centuries, offering them both challenge and inspiration.
Featuring a selection of works primarily from Maltese twentieth-century artists – including Josef Kalleya, Alfred Chircop, and Gabriel Caruana, alongside contributions from the Victor Pasmore collection – the exhibition is a deep exploration of how artists utilise lines to create and convey images, meanings, and emotions.
FPM Creative Director Michael Lowell designed the exhibition, while Sarah Chircop handled the curation of the project.
An exhibition catalogue, fully illustrated, accompanies the show and includes essays by distinguished artists, art writers, and philosophers such as Matthew Attard, Robert Brewer Young, Vince Briffa, Richard England, Giulia Privitelli, and Michael Zammit.
The curator’s reflective and poetic introduction introduces the three main sections of the catalogue—focusing on the line’s role in invention, gesture, and movement. These sections mirror the exhibition’s flow.
The point-form structure and seemingly fragmented ideas gradually meld into a cohesive narrative, enriched by the essays from the various contributors, each with an independent rhythm inspired by the featured artworks.
These essays act as guides, inviting visitors on an imaginative, visual, and sensory journey to explore the concept, expression, and legacy of the line through remarkable examples of Maltese art history.
Victor Pasmore, renowned as the father of British Abstraction, played a pioneering role in the abstract art movement in Britain.
Transitioning from figurative painting to constructivism and ultimately abstraction, Pasmore found abstract art to be the purest form of expression. The exhibition includes five of Pasmore’s Linear Symphonies, presented in a cube format accompanied by a soundscape.
This multimedia experience allows visitors not only to observe Pasmore’s lines but also to listen to their movement and narrative. Pasmore explored this concept extensively over the years, experimenting with the rhythms and sounds of abstract painting, which he referred to as ‘visual music.’
The Victor Pasmore Gallery, previously housed at the Polverista Gallery at the Central Bank of Malta in Valletta, has been closed since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti’s new location is at APS House, 275 St. Paul Street, Valletta, which opened on 30th September, alongside the launch of the current exhibition.
These new premises will serve as the permanent home for the Victor Pasmore collection, expected to be open to the public in 2024.
The exhibition will run until 14th January, 2024. The gallery is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 5pm and on Thursdays from 10am to 7pm.
Tickets are available for purchase at the entrance. For more information, please visit www.victorpasmoregallery.com
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