BCSFA CGP CPE CSGA CSPWC RCA
1922 - 2014
Canadian
Going to Mass
charcoal and graphite on paper
signed and dated 1953
24 x 15 in, 61 x 38.1 cm
Estimate: $1,500 - $2,500 CAD
Sold for: $1,000
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Private Estate, West Vancouver
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Vancouver
As the daughter of art critic Harold Mortimer-Lamb, Molly Bobak was exposed to art as a young girl through children's classes at the Vancouver School of Art and through family associations with painters such as A.Y. Jackson and Emily Carr. Molly was thus encouraged to pursue art, and at the completion of her secondary schooling, she enrolled in the Vancouver School of Art and studied for four years with Jack Shadbolt and Charles Hepburn Scott. After an additional year of graduate studies, she enlisted in the Canadian Women's Army Corps in 1942. She campaigned to be sent overseas for three years, but it was not until V-Day was declared that she was sent to England as an Official War Artist - the first Canadian woman to do so. There, and in northwestern Europe, she worked to document the Communications Units, crowd scenes and celebrations of the end of the war. She was prolific, as there are over 400 of her works in the Canadian War Memorials Collection, and she supported this aspect of the military enthusiastically throughout her life, encouraging younger artists in subsequent years to document Canadian involvement in international conflict zones.
Bobak was a master at depicting scenes of crowd-filled streets, and her work is unique in capturing the joyous celebration of the end of World War II. Upon her return to Vancouver, she took a teaching post at the Vancouver School of Art, where she taught painting until 1950. By this time she had married fellow war artist Bruno Bobak, and they had a son, Alexander. She continued to teach and paint in Vancouver, turning her attention to beaches and the city, and she was especially interested in parades, celebrations and scenes of joyous, shared city life. In 1960 the Bobaks, by then a family of four - moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she continued to teach and explore animated cityscapes in her paintings. She taught at the University of New Brunswick and in many other institutions in Canada throughout her life as a sessional and guest instructor.
In addition to her many awards, memberships and achievements, Bobak's work is found in numerous public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian War Museum, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Glenbow Museum, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Military Museums of Alberta and the Art Gallery of Alberta. She continued to paint and draw daily until she was 84, when poor eyesight curtailed her work. She died in Fredericton in 2014 at the age of 94.
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