In 1942, Mirka Mora was sent with her mother and sisters to Pithiviers internment camp in France. Their names were on a list to be deported to Auschwitz when at the last minute, Mora’s father successfully arranged their release. For the next three years, the family hid in a tiny town in Burgundy.

This experience lingers in Mora’s art, not as a note of despair but as resilience. She once connected her cherubic characters, who star in the original mixed-media ‘Untitled (Little Saints)’, to a memory of seeing children crammed onto a train headed to a concentration camp. “Yes, the truth you have to remember… You have to speak for the dead, don’t you? You have to and I’m a witness and I’m a lucky escape,” she reflected.

Mora immigrated to Australia in 1951 with her then husband, George Mora, a Jewish resistance fighter who helped smuggle Jewish children out of the country while working at an orphanage. In Australia, the couple became stars of the Australian art scene – Mora’s infectious joie de vivre and creative spirit rendering her an icon.

‘Untitled (Little Saints)’, a poetic and profound image, is underpinned by Mora’s resilience and heritage. It is recognisably hers, a moving find for collectors of Mora, Australian art and those interested in the plight of the Jewish diaspora.

Mirka MORA (1928 - 2018)
'Untitled (Little Saints)' 1963
Mixed media on paper
Image Size: 30 x 46 cm
Dimensions: 51 x 67 x 4 cm
Signed: Signed Mirka and dated 63 lower right; dedication bottom
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Dedication along bottom image: Pour Jean-Jacques et Rosslyn - que jean-jacques a choise!
 
Condition: Very good
 
© Mirka Mora / Copyright Agency 2022