Sylvia Molloy, In Our Time exhibition set to open at the North Hertfordshire Museum

PR Date: Tuesday, 18 August 2020 - 6:00pm

A new exhibition featuring the works of Letchworth artist, Sylvia Molloy, will open its doors at the North Hertfordshire Museum in Hitchin on Saturday 22 August.

The exhibition, focuses around a large triptych which Sylvia worked on for over twenty years, finishing it in 1985. It is a thought-provoking work, intended to have an emotional charge. The three pieces, War Games, Man’s inhumanity to man and Towards Armageddon convey its flavour. In a television interview, Sylvia said “My hope while I was painting was that people would see the work and might be warned to do something about it”. It is complemented by 25 other paintings and prints that show the range of her work.

Sylvia Molloy was an adventurous and well-known artist from England, who graduated from Durham with a degree in Art and English. She began teaching in St Asaph and met her husband-to-be in Cambridge, joining him in Burma, where they were married. He was an Assistant District Officer, whose job took the newlyweds through the Shan States, where Sylvia made sketches and paintings of local people. When the Japanese invaded in 1942, she left for India on the last RAF flight from the country. Their first son was born during the year they spent in India and their second when they came to the UK. After the war, they returned to newly-independent Burma only to flee again when terrorists assassinated the entire cabinet. Catching a ship to Durban they settled in Johannesburg, where they remained for sixteen years. Disgusted with Apartheid, the couple left South Africa and came to Letchworth Garden City in 1963. For many years Sylvia was Head of Art at St Francis College, Letchworth, and exhibited her works at The Royal Academy, the Paris Salon, the Royal Australian Society of Arts as well as other galleries.

Cllr Keith Hoskins, North Hertfordshire District Council’s Executive Member for Enterprise and Co-operative Development said: “We are delighted to exhibit this inspirational range of paintings at the Museum for people to enjoy. We invite everyone to come along and experience these works of art for themselves.”

In Our Time is free to visit and runs until 18 October.

Social distancing measures are in place. We can accommodate only six people from one or two ‘bubbles’ in guided tours of the whole museum which are on the hour or the half hour. For tours on the hour, you will need to book through Art Tickets UK (https://north-herts-museum.arttickets.org.uk/). Visitors can turn up at the museum entrance for tours on the half hour. The last tour, at 3.30 pm, is for the exhibition only.

Visit the North Hertfordshire Museum webpages for more information:  https://northhertsmuseum.org/