FRANK PORTELLI M.O.M.

One of three Maltese artists who, in the immediate post-war years, recreated the foundations upon which Maltese Art was to rise again in closer consonance with European sensibility. Following his war-interrupted formal artistic training in Malta, he studied at the Kennington College of Art. On his return to Malta in 1950 he became a key figure in a fresh, novel and sometimes daring symbolic artistic expression at a time when Malta was seeking its own national identity. His work reflects the openness of his personality to new challenges. It is eclectic in expression, ranging from cubism and impressionism to a later unique experimentation with contours.