MOLVIG, JON (1923-1970)

"Carcass" (1958) 
mixed media
cm 
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
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. This fascinating ink and wash sketch is part of a series of works from the late 1950s on dead animal carcasses. It was a popular theme for Australian artists of the period, also tackled by prominent artists such as Sir Sidney Nolan & Sir Russell Drysdale. A similar work from this series is in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery Of NSW.