Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

RULED BY THE MOON Jon Molvig A twilight o f women Elizabeth Churcher, a o Facing page Jon Molvig Australia 1923-70 A twilight of women 1957 Oil on composition board 137.2 X 148.6cm Purchased 1984 Queensland Art Gallery Right Jon Molvig The lovers 1955 Oil and encaustic on hardboard 213.4x121.9cm Gift of the Mertz Art Fund 1972 Archer M. FHuntington Art Gallery, The University of Texas at Austin Jon Molvig The lovers 1955 Brush and ink on paper on hardboard 73.4x48.6cm Gift of Miss Pamela Bell 1989 Queensland Art Gallery / % twilight o f women (Queensland / % Axt Gallery) was painted in X . Jon Molvig s Kangaroo Point studio in Brisbane in mid-1957. In October of that year it was exhibited at the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Melbourne with a price tag of 140 guineas; and when Molvig had his first retrospective exhibition in March 1960 at Rudy Komon's Gallery in Paddington, Sydney ('Molvig 1950-1960'), it was priced at 300 guineas. The painting was not sold and remained in Rudy Komon's storeroom until Molvig organised a swap with fellow artist Charles Blackman. A twilight o f women stayed in the collection of Charles and Barbara Blackman until 1984, when it was purchased by the Queensland Art Gallery. Jon Molvig was bom in Newcastle on 27 May 1923. At the outbreak of the Second World War, not yet seventeen, he worked for eighteen months in a Newcastle munitions factory making steel helmets. On 5 December 1941, six months before his nineteenth birthday, he enlisted as a part- time recruit, and was called up for full-time service in February 1942. He saw active service in New Guinea and Manila, and was discharged from the forces in June 1946, having spent nearly five years in the army When he was discharged Molvig had no particular skills or trade, and he decided to seize the opportunity offered by the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme (CRTS), enrolling in art classes at the East SydneyTechnical College. For many, the war interrupted careers and professions; for Jon Molvig the army established his career — for the first time in his life he discovered what he really wanted to do. Paul Beadle was placed in charge of the East Sydney annexe at Strathfield (set up to accommodate the influx of CRTS students), and when Wallace Thornton joined the staff he made a point of introducing his students to their own tradition in painting. He organised visits to the studios of local contemporary artists, including William Dobell's studio to see his controversial Archibald prize winner of 1943, Portrait o f an artist (Joshua Smith) (private collection). Molvig was impressed by the singular quality of Dobell's paintings. His admiration for Dobell became something of a model throughout his career; he respected the clarity with which the older artist had established his priorities and pursued his objectives. In May 1955 Molvig exhibited at the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney, sharing the space with Ian Fairweather. When the exhibition closed with Molvig making no sales, he decided to follow Fairweather's example and move away from the established 'centre' to find his subjects in new and less trammelled places. He moved to Brisbane, and accepted art school friend John Rigby's offer of his large studio at Kangaroo Point. This studio had been an alternative art school in Brisbane for the past three years, so Molvig not only inherited a workplace, he inherited a livelihood. The city of Brisbane had been up-ended during the war years when General Douglas MacArthur set up his headquarters there in 1942. Overnight, Brisbane became a town teeming with American servicemen, and seemingly overnight there blossomed in the city and suburbs, brothels, nightclubs, 262 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965