Tributes to Winston Hassall, an English painter who moved to Malta over four decades ago, have poured in throughout the past week, in the days following his death.
Hassall died on Monday at the age of 75 after a four-month battle with cancer.
Hassall was known for his paintings of Malta’s scenery, frequently exhibiting his works alongside other distinguished local artists including Isabelle Borg, Debbie Caruana Dingli and Madeleine Gera.
In 1995, he opened Studio 47, a Valletta art gallery and studio where he exhibited several works of friends and collaborators, as well as his own paintings.
Hassall also frequently contributed works to charitable causes, working with the Community Chest Fund for several years and collaborating with the Hospice movement.
He famously presented his painting of Marsaxlokk bay to Cherie Blair, wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony, during her visit to Malta in 2009.
Before moving to Malta, Hassall worked as a textile artist in England and Ireland.
Hassall’s daughter Diane told Times of Malta that his connection to Malta began in 1979 when looking to build a new life away from his homeland after a failed marriage, he flipped a coin over a world map, pledging to travel to wherever it fell.
The coin landed on Malta and his fate was sealed.
By the following year, he was living in Malta and happily married to his wife Mary, with whom he would have two children. Shortly after first moving to Malta, he spent some time in Libya working in the oil industry. He then returned to Malta, where he would spend the rest of his years.
Tributes to Hassall poured in following news of his death.
Gallery 23, the Balzan-based art gallery with whom he frequently collaborated, described him as “a lovely gentleman, a talented artist and most of all a great friend”.
The gallery praised his “varied” and “always evolving” works, saying that his paintings captured “beautiful scenes with vibrant colours and compositions”.
Fellow artists Kenneth Zammit Tabona and James Vella Clark took to Facebook to pay tribute to Hassall, as did parliamentary secretary Deo Debattista, who posted one of Hassell’s works.
Hassell’s is the second major loss to Malta’s art scene in the space of just a few days, alongside that of Mark Mallia on Tuesday.
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