Il-Ħaġar Museum in Victoria is shining a long-overdue spotlight on one of Malta’s unsung artistic pioneers: Carmelo Mangion (1905-1997).
Carmelo Mangion: Mystery and Modernity, curated by Nikki Petroni, is a rare and comprehensive retrospective that delves into the life, work and legacy of this often underrepresented figure in Maltese modern art.
A diverse selection of Mangion’s portraits, thematic landscapes and etchings, many of which have not been exhibited in public for decades, will be brought together under one roof.
Born in Naxxar in 1905, Mangion was one of six children and showed artistic promise from a young age. He began his formal training under the society painter Giuseppe Duca (1871–1948), later continuing under Edward Caruana Dingli, one of Malta’s most celebrated artists. His artistic journey took him beyond the island, studying at the British Academy of Art in Rome and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.
However, a pivotal chapter in Mangion’s career unfolded during his four-year stay at the Central
School of Art in New York, where he studied commercial art and etching. Etching would become one of his defining media, an enduring passion that he would later pass on to a new generation of Maltese modern artists.
Among the many artists he mentored are William Apap, Anton Inglott, Emvin Cremona, Frank Portelli, Joseph Borg Xuereb, Alfred Chircop, Joe Muscat, Salvatore Privitera, Frank Baldacchino, Publius Farrugia, Salvatore Casabene, Oliver Agius and Joe Calleja.
Mystery and Modernity is presented through the initiative of Il-Ħaġar Museum, with the close collaboration of Mangion’s daughter, Adrienne Cassar, who has been instrumental in
bringing her father’s legacy back into public view.
Alongside the exhibition, visitors will be able to view a comprehensive timeline of the artist’s life and a specially produced catalogue exploring Mangion’s artistic development and influence within Malta’s cultural landscape.
Joseph Borg, a representative of Fondazzjoni Belt Victoria which manages Il-Ħaġar, said: “After honouring the likes of Mangion’s 20th-century art counterparts such as Anton Inglott (in 2019), Emvin Cremona (in 2021), Willie Apap (in 2022) and Esprit Barthet (in 2023) with major retrospectives that brought together under one roof an impressive number of their works, this time Il-Ħaġar has chosen to honour the father of Maltese modern art himself, Carmelo Mangion, with a retrospective we have been working on for the past two years in collaboration with his daughter, Adrienne.
“Il-Ħaġar has by now earned an excellent reputation for consistently hosting top-level temporary exhibitions, and we are looking to continue building on this with the Mangion exhibition and others we have in the pipeline. I am confident that over the course of its two-month run, hundreds of people from every nook and cranny of the Maltese islands and beyond will flock to Il-Ħaġar to see Mangion’s works, some of which will be on display for the first time.”
Carmelo Mangion: Mystery and Modernity opens to the public on July 6 at 11.45am and will run until September 8. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.heartofgozo.org.mt or follow Il-Ħaġar on social media.
Learn more about the artist through this Times of Malta feature by art critic Joseph Agius.
