The Bruno Bobak Bequest

This exhibition draws upon a selection of works bequeathed to the collection of the Confederation Centre Art Gallery by the estate of the artist Bruno Bobak (1923-2012). Since Bobak’s career spanned close to seven decades, this bequest and this exhibition are necessarily a rather slender offering drawn from his long career. But, what the selection does hope to achieve is to give some sense of the range of his experiences as an artist-from woodblock prints beginning shortly after his career as Canada’s youngest war artist from 1943 to 1945, through silkscreen prints, drawings, watercolours and oil paintings during the rest of his career. Bobak was an extraordinarily fluent artist, working as a ceramicist, jeweller, sculptor and furniture maker. If not busy in his studio each day, or at the University of New Brunswick Art Centre where he was resident artist from 1961 to 1986, then he was outdoors sketching, gathering “moosewood” and wild flowers in the springtime, together with his wife, the equally renowned artist Molly Lamb.
In this exhibition, one will find primarily examples of his printmaking skills and his drawings, together with a few examples of his watercolours and oil paintings. More of his work can be found in the Gallery’s collection in the form of oil paintings and drawings.

Donald Andrus, Curator