Exhibition of Edwin Galea

Title of Exhibition: U.S.-Malta relations

Date of visit:  25^th February 2014

Name of artist:  Edwin Galea

Galea’s Biography:  Edwin Galea was born in Valletta, in 1934. His favourite media is watercolours and his art includes boats, ships, sea and naval history, in fact he is a marine artist. The maritime history interests led him to most maritime museums in Europe and some research from the United States. The power and individuality in his art is his normal style.

 He is the only Maltese artist who is an official U.S. Navy Combat Artist and a U.S. Coast Guard Artist. He was honoured with painting collection of the Meritorious Public Service Citation for U.S.  Navy Academy, the U.S. Memorial Museum, the U.S. Navy and Marine Combat Art Museum and the Pentagon in Washington. Some of his exhibitions have taken place in Malta, London, Italy, Australia, Brussels, Athens, New York and Washington D.C., USA.

Name of painting: US Constitution – Malta 1837

    This painting is capturing a scene happened in the 1837. The time this painting was probably capturing was at mid day. It is very realistic painting because you can see every detail you could imagine and its proportions are perfect. It is very similar to a photograph. The lines of the ropes of the ships in the painting are very straight and perfect. It is also a very perfect painting. Media used is water colours. The sky is made of soft texture. The flags which are very colourful stand out very much in this painting because they are very colourful. The reflection of the boats in the sea shows the calmness and smoothness of the water. As you look closely you notice that there are people on the small Maltese boats. 

Name of painting: USS Kearsarge

    This painting is showing the USS Kearsarge entering the Grand Harbour on 14^th January 1909. It is an important scene of the Maltese history. It has also the same place as the painting mentioned before this. The beautiful and wonderful bastions of the Grand harbour are being given the importance by dedicating a good space on the canvas for them. This painting has a sense of serenity and calmness; it is shown from the colour the artist has given to it. The colour scheme in this painting is mostly cool and has few warm colours so that give the feel of serenity and maybe peace.

Name of painting: SS Ohio 1942

    Ohio is a 9,263 ton tanker, which is bigger and faster that other ships built before. It was built in 1940 in Chester, Pennsylvania for Texaco. It was last convoy set sail to Malta before the island was capitulated and managed to arrive although broken and sinking. The artist is giving a recall of the wrecked convoy and giving us the image of how the scene might look.

    The painting is very emotional and it is putting you in it and makes you feel that sad of that story. It is showing strength and courage of the ship. The planes at the backgroung are being given some importance as well to show that the ship was almost destroyed by some of their bombs. It is also a dramatic painting.

Name of painting: USS Laffey (DD724) 1945

    This painting is very similar to the other painting named ‘SS Ohio 1942’ because the subject is war. This ship had visited Malta several times. This painting was inspired from a book the artist had read, named ‘The Ship That Would Not Die’ by Rear Admiral F. Julian Becton, USN, RET. This author was a Commanding Officer. The author had fought and survived from a Japanese air attack.

    This painting has aggressiveness and sadness feeling. It is a very dramatic and realistic painting, which is showing an action scene of a battle during a war, where the attack was from the air to the ship. Also the sea was not calm this time but was a bit rough and strong, which make it difficult to the ship to try to defeat his enemy. The colour is also dramatic because it’s not very light and has some warm colours, not the same as other paintings of Galea’s so it let you know that it was a tough battle/attack.

Name of painting: USCG Eagle Potomac Fest 1986

    This scene has been experienced by the artist because he was invited to be present during the Potomac Fest celebration of the bark’s 50^th birthday and the artist was a US Coast Guard artist. The painting is showing happiness and proud. The artist used water colours as a media and the colour of the painting is very light. Like all of his work this painting is very detailed. Also the weather seems very nice so it is showing a wonderful day. The back ground is showing where the place of that event is, which is the Statue of Liberty in America.

My overall comments: In my opinion most of Galea’s paintings are very well influenced and talented because of that particular detail he gives to each of his paintings. The exhibition was very interesting because there were objects taken from the history related to his paintings. I also like the fact that he paints in a way that his paintings look very realistic and look like a photograph.