Mirka Mora (1928-2018) Large Original Gouache Painting on Paper 'Misty' 39cm x 29cm

Mirka Mora (1928-2018) was one of Melbourne’s best loved artists, renowned as much for her bohemian personality as for her art. Today Mirka Mora is one of Australia's most sought after and collectible female artists, in huge demand. This delightful and vibrant artwork titled 'Misty' Plush (1989) is gouache on paper and signed and dated lower right 'Mirka 89'. Depicting a colourful teddy bear, this large playful artwork with gold frame and white acid-free mat board are in excellent condition. Provenance: William Mora Galleries Victoria. If it's investment art you are looking, they don't come much better than this!

Dimensions

Image size: 39cm x 29cm
Frame size: 60cm x 49cm

Bio

Mirka Madeleine Mora was a French-born Australian visual artist and cultural figure who contributed significantly to the development of Australian contemporary art. Her media included drawing, painting, sculpture and mosaic. She was born to a Lithuanian Jewish father and a Romanian Jewish mother and when aged 14, was arrested in 1942 during the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup. However, she and her family managed to escape the concentration camp at Pithiviers in Loiret (France) and the inevitable deportation to Auschwitz. Having survived the Holocaust, they spent the remainder of the war hiding in the French countryside. Mora trained in drama in Paris, by 1951, when she came to Melbourne with her husband, Georges, she was committed to painting. Soon the couple became friends with the city's leading artists and collectors, and were instrumental in the re-formation of the Contemporary Art Society. Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s they opened the European-style Mirka Café in Exhibition Street (the first Melbourne café with outdoor seating), then Balzac in East Melbourne (the first restaurant with a licence to serve liquor after 10pm) and finally the Tolarno in St Kilda in 1966. While Georges established himself as an art dealer, opening Tolarno Galleries in 1967, Mirka became a bohemian icon of the city. Having worked prolifically for six decades across a range of media - including painting, drawing, embroidery, soft sculpture and doll-making - she is represented in many state and regional collections. Her mosaics decorate Flinders Street Station, she painted a tram, and in 2007 she was commissioned by new owner Guy Grossi to repaint the original murals with her characteristic softly rounded, angelic figures for his re-launched restaurant, Mirka at Tolarno Hotel. Her autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous (2000), was followed by a book about her favourite things, Love and Clutter (2003). Mirka's undimmed gusto and creative expression are highlighted by her 2016 collaboration with iconic Australian fashion label Gorman, two years before she died at the age of 90. Acknowledged for her formative influence on Melbourne's cultural identity, Mirka was loved as much for her contributions to contemporary art as for her generous and outrageous nature.