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5 gozotoday | FRIDAY • 20 JUNE 2025 ART New exhibition celebrates the work of Carmelo Mangion this July in Victoria THIS July, Il-Ħaġar, Gozo's premier cul- tural centre and museum, will shine a long-overdue spotlight on one of Mal- ta's unsung artistic pioneers: Carmelo Mangion (1905–1997). The exhibition curated by Dr Nikki Petroni, Carmelo Mangion: Mystery and Modernity, 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 land- scapes, 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 con- tinuing 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 genera- tion 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, Sal- vatore Privitera, Frank Baldacchino, Pub- lius Farrugia, Salvatore Casabene, Oliver Agius, and Joe Calleja. Mystery and Modernity is presented through the initiative of Il-Ħaġar Mu- seum, with the close collaboration of Mangion's daughter, Adrienne Cassar née Mangion, 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 Mal- ta's cultural landscape. Joseph Borg, a representative of Fon- dazzjoni Belt Victoria which manages Il-Ħaġar, remarked: "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 togeth- er under one roof an impressive number of their works, this time Il-Ħaġar has cho- sen to honour the father of Maltese mod- ern 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 tem- porary exhibitions, and we are looking to continue building on this with the Man- gion 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 Moder- nity opens to the public on July 6th and will run until September 8th. Admission is free. For more information, please visit www. heartofgozo.org.mt or follow Il-Ħaġar on social media. Towards Town By Carmelo_Mangion Farmland by Carmelo Mangion