11.5 × 16 in
in
cm
$1,500
In a still life with exquisite detail despite its relative abstraction, Anemones strikes bright and bold against a neutral backdrop. The eye is immediately drawn to the windflowers, or anemone, that burst willfully from a glass vase ill-equipped to contain them. Each bloom is distinct despite the riot of colour making up the bouquet, while the muted greens of the leaves go nearly unnoticed, structure without a say.
The reds, purples, and blues, petals fully open to catch the light emanating from the bottom right of the paper, keep the eye riveted in the middle of the piece, spiralling between the complementing tones, fully immersed in the sense of Spring these fresh-cut flowers evoke.
| Medium | Mixed media |
| Signature | Signed |
| Frame | Unframed |
| Condition | Condition notes: foxing upper left corner |
| Seller | Private |
| Location | Victoria, Canada |
| Provenance | Private Collection, Victoria, Canada. |
Vancouver-born artist Molly Lamb Bobak (1920–2014) was the first Canadian woman war artist. The daughter of celebrated photographer Harold Mortimer-Lamb, Bobak longed to be a painter like her family friend, the Group of Seven’s A.Y. Jackson. In 1942, Bobak joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and was sent overseas to London, where she depicted female military training as well as dynamic scenes of marches and parades—subject matter for which she would later be well known.
Upon her return from the U.K., Bobak married fellow war artist Bruno Bobak. In 1960 their family moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick, where they lived and worked for over half a century. In one of the first generations of Canadian women who earned their livings as artists, Bobak became known for her paintings, drawings, and watercolours. For her role in the Second World War and many other accomplishments, she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1973 and presented with the Order of Canada in 1995.
Source: Art Canada Institute
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