Blackman, Mirka Mora and Rosemary Ryan: the lives of the party

Rosemary Ryan ‘Untitled (Cabaret)'

The Boyd family once described Australian artist and her husband, journalist Patrick Ryan, as “delightful young things” in reference to the Bright Young Things. A set of socialites and bohemians, the Bright Young Things were tabloid stars of 1920s London. They were party boys and “it” girls – flamboyant, bohemian, rebellious and glamorous, the fallen angels of the British upper-class. 

Charles Blackman ‘Tea Break’

The Bright Young Things phenomenon began with well-bred young women running wild through London on treasure hunts, soon devolving into fancy dress parties, heavy drinking and illicit substances. Post-war, the old world was cracking: women were experiencing newfound independence, aristocratic families were crumbling and society was coming to terms with the casualties of war. Hedonism represented both a relief and reaction.

Mirka Mora ‘Bird Face’

Dorothy Braund ‘Christine Keeler (Profumo)’

While Ryan lived in a different time and place to the Bright Young Things, there are echoes between her milieu and theirs. She was enmeshed in the bohemian scene of Melbourne, close friends with Charles Blackman, Mirka Mora and John and Sunday Reed, and like the Bright Young Things developed her own lexicon, calling things “FMW” or “Fine, marvellous, wonderful”. She also shared in their rejection of stuffy conservatism. 

Rosemary Ryan ‘Untitled (After Hogarth)’

Once while sailing through France with her husband and young children, Ryan found herself agitated, tying nappies to the sails and longing to be home painting. In a twist of kismet however, she happened to meet writer Nancy Mitford, the voice of the Bright Young Things. The two felt an immediate affinity. 

Charles Blackman ‘eYe’

Mirka Mora ‘Artist’s Palette’

Without a sense of community, hedonism can teeter towards destruction. This was not Ryan’s world – she and the other Bright Young Things of mid-century Melbourne were a community, determinedly searching for new ways to depict and understand the world around them. At Ryan’s funeral, there were five-hundred people in attendance: an archbishop; taxi drivers; a retired governor-general; a singing telegram performer; a dozen Toorak dowagers; and scores of artists. It was all fine, marvellous and wonderful.