Toiling in Craft: An Anthology of Stories on Art and Malta, Giovanni Bonello

Description

In this volume of his celebrated series of essays, Giovanni Bonello probes the restless, imperfect human impulse that drives creation, exploring it both as craft and compulsion: an act shaped as much by flaw, guilt, and circumstance as by inspiration.

With typical wit, irony, and a keen sensitivity to nuance, Bonello uncovers some familiar and less familiar stories related to Malta’s artistic and cultural heritage. From the shifting symbolism of monkeys in art and language, to the layered meanings of justice and power; from the rediscovery of Antoine Favray to the enigmas surrounding historic inscriptions and lost masterpieces, each essay reveals the tension between intention and outcome, vision and limitation. The lives of artists themselve —among them Willie Apap, Robert Caruana Dingli, Giorgio Preca, Richard Dadd, and others—emerge as deeply human narratives marked by ambition, frustration, eccentricity, and, at times, tragedy. The volume also traces pivotal moments of transformation, including the arrival of photography and film in Malta: phenomena that were once steeped in ‘magic’, are now confronting am increasingly sceptical age.  Through its anecdotes, this volume invites readers to consider, or reconsider, the paradox of creative labour: not quite as an act of pristine genius, but rather as a timeless activity caught up, as it were, between burden and necessity, struggle and relief.

Contents:

Aping the Image: Monkeys in Maltese History, Art, and Language

Images of Justice and Symbols of Power

Lifting the Veil off Antoine Favray

A Unique Painting of a 1783 Gozo Event

Melitensium Amor: Mysteries and Mischief surrounding the Main Guard Inscription

Willie Apap: Manic about Art

Confessions to a Friend: Letters from Robert Caruana Dingli and Giorgio Preca

Richard Dadd: A Murderous Painter in Malta

Jack Whitehouse: A Forgotten Malta War Artist

A Story of Firsts (I): Photography in Malta

A Story of Firsts (II): Filmmakers in Malta

Paul Haber: Conflict and Resolution