Molly Lamb Bobak

Remai Modern Verified independent store

→

Canada’s first woman war artist, Molly Lamb Bobak fought gender bias in the early twentieth century to become one of the country’s most important artists. Today she is revered for her groundbreaking paintings of military life as well as depictions of urban activity and crowd scenes that capture daily life in Canada. The daughter of celebrated photographer Harold Mortimer-Lamb, Vancouver-born artist Molly Lamb Bobak (1920–2014) joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in 1942 and was sent overseas to London, becoming the first Canadian woman war artist. She brashly captured women’s military life and roles during the Second World War in her paintings, illustrated diaries, and drawings, depicting female military training as well as dynamic scenes of marches and parades. Upon her return to Canada, Bobak married fellow war artist Bruno Bobak, and the couple settled in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where they lived and worked for over half a century. One of the first Canadian female painters to earn her living as an artist, Bobak was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1973 and presented with the Order of Canada in 1995. Molly Lamb Bobak: Life & Work traces the career of this pioneering Canadian painter and the diverse range of her artistic output, from her still lifes and interiors to her crowd scenes and self-portraits. It explores Bobak’s legacy as a painter and educator and what it meant to be a female artist in mid-twentieth-century Canada. Michelle Gewurtz is the curator at the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG). She holds a PhD in the history of art from the University of Leeds with a specialization in feminism and the visual arts. Her curatorial work explores gender politics and creative identity, and her research covers both historical and contemporary art. Show more