MOLVIG, JON (1923-1970)

**PRICE ON APPLICATION**
 
"Fruit Study I" (1949) 
watercolour
10 x 14cm
signed lower right
*exhibited at Rudy Komon Galleries
 
Molvig was a leading, award-winning Australian Expressionist. He is considered a major developer of 20th-century Australian expressionism, even though his career 'only' lasted 20 years. Molvig won the Archibald Prize in 1966 with a portrait of painter Charles Blackman and portraits of Molvig by artist John Rigby were hung in the Archibald in 1953 and 1959. He won many other prizes including the 1955 and 1956 Lismore Prize, 1961 Transfield Prize, 1963 Perth Prize, 1965 David Jones Prize, 1966 Corio Prize, and 1969 Gold Coast Prize. Molvig's art was celebrated at the Queensland Art Gallery from September 2019 to February 2020 in the form of a major retrospective exhibition named Maverick. His work is represented in all major National Galleries and Institutions in Australia.
 
This unusual, lost painting is one of Molvig's earliest compositions (his 7th known work) completed whilst studying at East Sydney Technical College, Strathfield campus. It is completely different stylistically from the oeuvre he became famous for; it is directly reflective of his instructors, Frank Hinder & Godfrey Miller. It was also completed at the same time he visited Sir William Dobell with fellow students & his infamous "Portrait Of An Artist" shortly before it was sold to the Haywards. This was a major moment & inspiration in Molvig's artistic development, & later his work was favorably likened to Dobell: both Novocastrians and tragically died within two days of each other!! This painting, along with a similar Still Life, was originally exhibited and sold through Rudy Komon Galleries.