Return of the stone lithograph: a revival at Muża by Maltese artists and printmakers

For the first time in these last 100 years, five Maltese artists who had never used lithography are being introduced to the medium.

Three Maltese printmakers, five contemporary artists, a French lithographer and two lithographic workshops are working together for a revival of the long-lost technique of stone lithography, a process taken up enthusiastically in Malta by a significant group of artists throughout the 19th century but surviving only in an industrial and commercial context in the 20th century.

And it was at Atelier 10 that Lino Borg, Justin Falzon and Jesmond Vassallo, three Maltese artists and printmakers, joined forces with French master printmaker Laurent Nicolaï to experiment and learn more about the technique of lithography on stone.

This resulted in Atelier 10 inviting other artists to create editions of their work and rediscover stone lithography.

Now, artists Vince Briffa, Sue Flask, Debbie Caruana Dingli, Paul Scerri and Robert Zahra have all produced black and white images, exploiting some of the possibilities of this process.

The result: the creation of limited editions of very high-quality lithographs, laboriously and individually printed one by one, by hand.

The exhibition at Muża, curated by Christian Attard, will also see artworks from the National Collection by Michele Bellanti, Pietro Paolo Caruana, Antonio Falzon and Filippo Benucci, and runs from 11 March to 17 April.

This exhibition is supported by FIM Bank and Arts Council Malta.