St Kilda Marina 1984

Summary

Born in Penza, Russia, Karlis Mednis (1910–99) studied painting at the Riga School of Art in Latvia during 1937–40. He arrived in Australia soon after World War II, in 1949, where he practised as both a painter and stage designer. During his lifetime, Mednis showed his paintings in more than 40 exhibitions in Australia and America. This oil on canvas on composition board was painted in 1984 and came into the collection the same year through the Lord Mayor’s Acquisitive Art Award. In it, the artist’s subjects do what they’ve done since St Kilda began attracting colonial visitors in the mid-19th century. If they are not showily promenading along the waterfront and out to the kiosk, visitors are relaxing with refreshments and taking in the scene – in this case in the shade of umbrellas, as boats and the city skyline loom in the haze behind.