Richard Cole, artist Ingliż ta’ 82 sena minn Wimbledon fl-1975, ġie nkariġat mit-Times Ingliża sabiex ipinġi karikatura tal-Perit Duminku Mintoff, li f’dawk iż-żminijiet kien wieħed magħruf sew barra minn xtutna.
Cole fassal karikatura li turi lil Mintoff liebes ta’ Napuljun Bonaporte, jarmi b’saqajh kelb ta’ razza ‘bulldog’, referenza ċara tal-Ħelsien ta’ Malta mill-kolonja Ingliża. Il-karikatura kienet dehret f’waħda mill-ħarġiet tat-Times fl-Ingilterra flimkien ma’ artiklu miktub mill-ġurnalist Warren Tute.
ONE News iltaqa’ ma’ Cole fil-Mużew tal-Arti u l-Uffiċċju Postali fil-Belt Valletta, fejn hemmhekk jinsab jagħmel esebizzjoni tal-pitturi tiegħu.
Richard qalilna li l-ħsieb li jpinġi lil Mintoff liebes ta’ Napuljun, kien li juri li bħal Napuljun, Mintoff kien bniedem b’saħħtu mmens.
“I had this phone call from the Head of Malta Airways, which said ‘We’d love to buy your cartoon and present it to Dom Mintoff’, and I said well I won’t sell it to you, but I’m happy to swap it for a return ticket to Malta, as it was the Malta Airways, and that’s what happened and this was in 1976. I came over and I fell in love with the island and the people, and I just started drawing.’’
Richard Cole qalilna li disa’ snin ilu nieda ktieb mimli kollu kemm hu b’kopji ta’ pitturi impittrin ġewwa pajjiżna, u propju dawk oriġinali jinsabu f’din il-wirja.
“In the room here you can see paintings that I’ve done over that period of the wonderful processions and festivals that you have, the regattas and the St. Paul festival, and I had great fun drawing the people I met, and I love drawing the baroque architecting of Malta and obviously of Gozo as well.”
Tkellimna wkoll ma’ Marika Azzopardi li hija l-kuratriċi ta’ din il-wirja.
“Il-mużew ikun miftuħ mit-Tnejn sal-Ġimgħa, mil-10 ta’ filgħodu sal-erbgħa ta’ waranofsinhar, u nhar ta’ Sibt mill-għaxra sas-sagħtejn, nhar ta’ Sibt ikun hawn l-artist, jiġi hawnhekk jiltaqa’ mal-artist.”
