Bruno Bobak emigrated Canada in 1927 and began studying art at the age of 13 in Toronto under Arthur LISMER. He was Canada's youngest official war artist when commissioned in 1944. His WWII art used an expressive-realist mode, derived from his training with Carl SCHAEFER. After the war he lived in BC (1947-59), where he developed a "surrealist" style in response to the mystical qualities of BC's interior landscape.
Following visits to Europe (especially Norway), he settled in New Brunswick (after 1960) and joined a passionate response for the art of Edvard Munch and Gustave Vigeland with an admiration for Oskar Kokoschka. The result was a series of powerful oils (Wheel of Life, 1966), drawings and woodcuts dealing with the figure and landscape.
Bobak has exhibited throughout Canada, the US and Europe. In 1962 he became director of the Art Centre at the University of New Brunswick where he remained until his retirement in 1988. In 1995 he was awarded the ORDER OF CANADA.
Bruno Bobak was married to Molly Lamb BOBAK, an accomplished Canadian artist in her own right. The couple continued to live and work in Fredericton and Bruno contributed work to exhibitions until his death.
Author D.F. ANDRUS
Links to Other Sites
Bronislaw Josephus Bobak
See a brief profile of artist Bronislaw Josephus Bobak. Click on "Artist's Work" to view online images of his artistic creations. From the National Gallery of Canada.
bobakart.com
The official website for artists Bruno Bobak and Molly Lamb Bobak. See their biographies and online art collection.
Legendary war artist Bruno Bobak dies at age 88
A CBC News obituary for iconic Canadian war artist Bruno Bobak.


Shawnadithit grew anxious waiting for her uncle, Longnon, to return to camp at the junction of Badger Brook and the Exploits River, deep in the wilds of Newfoundland...
INSIDE TCE
