76.2 x 121.9 cm
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Inscriptions
signed, ‘MOLLY LAMB B’ (lower right); titled and inscribed, ‘CHILDREN 30 X 48’ (verso, stretcher)Provenance
Galerie Bernard Desroches, Montreal
Expositions
Fredericton, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, The Queen Comes to New Brunswick: Paintings and Drawings by Molly Lamb Bobak, 27 September - 30 October 1977; Charlottetown, Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum, 29 May -18 June 1978; St. John’s, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1-30 September 1978; Oshawa, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 15 October - 15 November 1978; Montreal, Sir George Williams Art Galleries, 18 January - 6 February 1979, cat. no. 13.Documentation
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, The Queen Comes to New Brunswick: Paintings and Drawings by Molly Lamb Bobak (Fredericton, New Brunswick: Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 1977), 19.
Molly Lamb Bobak was known for her still lifes, interior scenes and colourful and striking paintings of crowds. Bobak’s interest in crowds drew her to large gatherings such as official ceremonies and parades. Bobak's crowd compositions are lively and vibrant. In them, she brilliantly captures the everyday life of Canadians.
Children (The Queen Comes to New Brunswick) is part of a celebrated series of paintings commemorating the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to Fredericton, New Brunswick in July, 1976. Molly was invited to participate in a number of events when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll was in Fredericton for a few days in 1976, a stopover en route to Canada's Olympic Games held in Montreal and in which Princess Anne was a competitor in a few equestrian events. The result was an excellent exhibition, The Queen Comes To New Brunswick: Paintings and Drawings by Molly Lamb Bobak, a presentation which was shown at five public galleries. Molly had promised us some 15 works that were included in that show. As it moved from one venue, admirers of her work asked Molly if they could purchase one. By the time the tour finished we were left with only a few. Characteristic of Molly’s generosity, subsequently, she gave to us, Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, a number of very fine paintings that were also inspired by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s visit to Fredericton.
This exceptional painting portrays a large group of children gathered for the occasion. While the perspective Bobak usually captures of the crowd was from above and at a distance, in this composition, the perspective places the viewer directly in front of the crowd. The audience is colourfully dressed and arranged in a seemingly organized yet spontaneous manner. Her brushstrokes are loose and expressive, giving the painting a sense of energy and movement.
Bobak's work has been widely collected and exhibited in Canada and internationally, and she received numerous awards and honours for her contributions to the arts. In 1995, Molly Lamb Bobak was awarded the Order of Canada.
Representing her for more than 40 years at our family’s old Montreal gallery, Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, gave us the luxury to know her and to distribute her artwork to art collectors from coast to coast. On more than one occasion she did some drawings from the front steps of the gallery.
