Jon Molvig - Child

Jon Molvig (1923-1970), Child 1953, oil on board, 63 x 47.5 cm, Lismore Regional Gallery Permanent Collection, Acquisitive: the City of Lismore Art Prize, Winner, 1955. Photo: Carl Warner.

About the artwork
Child was the winning work of the Third Annual Lismore Art Prize in 1955. The painting caused much comment and controversy as it explored modernist ideas about art, which many people were uncomfortable with at that time. One letter to the editor of The Northern Star described the painting as ‘flat as the canvas on which it is painted. It is a poor caricature in sickly colour’. 

About the artist
Molvig was one of the most important artists in the Brisbane art scene during the period between 1950 and 1970. It is suspected that the child depicted may be the son of fellow painter and friend of Molvig, John Rigby. 

Jon Molvig was considered a major developer of 20th century Australian Expressionism. He won many art prizes, including the Archibald Prize in 1966 for a portrait of the artist Charles Blackman.

Conserved by ICS / International Conservation Services 
Conservation notes: The artwork was deframed; dry surface cleaned and eaqueous cleaned; consolidation of unstable media; media losses were inpainted; localised varnish and reactivation of blanched areas; re-framed into new frame.

ArtVenture is presented by Lismore City Council’s Destination and Economy Team in collaboration with Lismore Regional Gallery.