The Maltese artist who sculpted rhythm and flow

In the 20th article in a series on 20th-century artists who shaped Maltese modernism, Joseph Agius details the evolution of sculptor Joseph M. Genuis.
Joseph Mary Genuis (1934-1970) was one of the 20th-century sculptors that Malta lost at a very young age. His oeuvre displays a very modernist approach that shows that he was very aware of the global art world, especially the European one.
His friendship with fellow sculptors Josef Kalleya − one of the two fathers of Maltese modernism − and Toni Pace and with painter Frank Baldacchino, coupled with their frequent discussions on art and literature, provided the young sculptor with ample thematic and stylistic direction.

Attending primary school in the early years of World War II, Genuis was lucky to have Carmelo Mangion, the other father of Maltese modernism, as his teacher of drawing. Mangion’s renowned enthusiasm for propagating his knowledge of art, accumulated through his extensive studies in Rome, Paris and New York, must have intrigued the young boy and nurtured in him a love for art.  
Not showing the propensity for a formal academic education, his parents realised that their son’s aptitudes lay in a context which would...