Victor Pasmore - Malta



		In the early 1960's, Victor Pasmore with his wife Wendy were looking out for a holiday home in the sun. Their intention was a place to visit and live in, once or perhaps twice a year for their holidays. Ibiza and Mallorca were approached but the language was tricky. On a trip to the Venice Biennale in 1965, someone mentioned Malta. They went to have a look and almost immediately took to the Island. Pasmore was excited by the architecture and landscape and above all the abundance of hardware stores where he might well be able to purchase (speaking in English) various materials for the constructions and paintings he was working on at that time. He was also made extremely welcome by a number of excellent Maltese artists with whom he continued a close friendship up to the day he died.

		VP with Richard England and Gabriel Caruana, Malta. 1996
		They bought an old 16thC farmhouse in the south of the Island and decided to expand it using traditional Maltese stone. During this period while the building was going on, Wendy Pasmore took a great interest in the animals on the Island and became attached to the many stray cats living nearby. They both agreed that leaving these newly acquainted creatures was not an option and decided to spend a lot more time in Malta. The question has been asked by many as to whether Malta influenced VP's work and he said and quoted that it had not, maintaining his theories concerning the independance of painting. Pasmore arrived in Malta in 1965 and died in Malta in 1998.
		Views of the farmhouse in Malta