Giuseppe Calì: creative genius and compelling narratives. A public lecture by Dr Mark Sagona, Ph.D.

Giuseppe Calì, Glory of St. Francis Giuseppe Calì has for long been considered Malta's leading artistic spirit in the years straddling the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  Indeed, he came to dominate the local art scene for around forty years and inspired so many artists, contemporaries and followers alike. His innate talent can be traced to his Neapolitan roots which boasted a long artistic family tradition, but his creative genius was abetted by an extraordinary gift for compelling narratives and captivating storytelling which marked his works from the early years.  Perhaps this was the real secret for the artist's considerable success, because he managed to attract an audience with an appetite for theatre and drama.  This lecture aims at reading the artist through the power of his images which, beyond the bravura of his brush, successfully combined ingenious story-telling and compelling narrative, strongly anchored in European, nineteenth-century examples.     In collaboration with University of…