Joseph Paul Cassar, Ph.D., is an artist, art historian, curator, and educator. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Pietro Vannucci, Perugia, Italy, the School of Art in Malta (Europe), and at Charles Sturt University in NSW, Australia. He is the author of several books and monographs on the pioneers of modern art of the Mediterranean island of Malta, two of which have been awarded the best prize for research in the Book Festival, Europe. He served as a free-lance art critic for “The Daily News” (1978-1981) and “The Times of Malta” (1997-2000). He has lectured at various educational institutions in Europe and the United States. He lectures at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, The Renaissance Institute, Notre Dame University, Towson University, York College of Pennsylvania, the Johns Hopkins University, Carroll Community College, Westminster, and Community College of Baltimore County among others. He designed online art courses for the New York Times Knowledge Network and for the University of Maryland Global Campus.
As an artist he has had three residencies: at St John's International School, Waterloo, Belgium (1997), Luther College, Decorah Iowa (2002) and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2003). He was curator for the international Art Center: St James Cavalier Center for Creativity between 1999-2003. In 2019 he was awarded the golden medal for the arts for his contribution to the arts in the Malta Society of Arts.
Cassar exhibits his work regularly in the Baltimore-Washington area and in Europe.
