MOLLY LAMB BOBAK FEATURE
Molly Lamb Bobak (1920-2014) was born on Lulu Island, near Vancouver. Having a love for drawing and painting at a young age, Molly enrolled at the Vancouver School of Art, where she would study under Jack Shadbolt, Jock MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. After graduating, Molly joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in 1942. Her superiors recognized her abilities as a graphic artist and sent her to take a drafting course in Toronto. In 1945, Molly became the first woman to be named an official Canadian war artist.
This 1944 drawing “Promenade Concert at Varsity Stadium” would potentially have been an assignment for the course Molly took in Toronto. The Promenade Symphony Concerts were a summer series in Toronto from 1934-1956. These weekly concerts were held from May through October at Varsity Stadium.
Another subject that Molly would be known for throughout her career would be bunches of wildflowers. While many of her earlier flower still life pieces would be done in oil paints, it was not until her marriage to fellow artist Bruno Bobak that she would produce most of her wildflower still life pieces in watercolour. She credited her move to Fredericton in 1961 and the beautiful flowers in New Brunswick as the inspiration behind her love of painting flowers. In 1978, Molly published her memoire “Wild Flowers of Canada” that featured a series of floral watercolour pieces.