Mirka and Georges: A Culinary Affair
Mirka and Georges: A Culinary Affair
A beloved and central figure in the cultural life of Australia, Mirka Mora long captured the public imagination with her distinctive art and inimitable personality. Arriving in Melbourne from Paris in 1951, Mirka and her husband Georges contributed significantly to the local art and restaurant scenes and the city’s gradual transformation into a sophisticated metropolis. Their apartment at 9 Collins Street became a hub for the bohemian set, which transferred to Mirka Café in Exhibition Street in 1954 and their two subsequent restaurants, Café Balzac in East Melbourne and Tolarno French Bistro in St Kilda.Â
The lecture opens with Mirka and Georges’ early lives and food experiences in France, then tells the stories of their celebrated hospitality in Australia and their intermingling of food, art, love and life. The culinary journey is interspersed with fascinating anecdotes, archival photographs, Mirka’s sensuous and colourful artworks.
Kendrah Morgan is Senior Curator at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne. She began her curatorial career at Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand after previous roles in the commercial gallery sector and as a lecturer in art and design history.Â
Since 1998 Kendrah has curated more than forty exhibitions, with Charles Blackman: Schoolgirls (2017); Arthur Boyd: Brides (2014); and Fiona Hall: Big Game Hunting (2013) among her major projects.Â
She has co-authored four books on aspects of Heide history including Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed (2015), which was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for non-fiction and the Colin Roderick Literary Award.Â
Her most recent book, Mirka and Georges: A Culinary Affair was released in 2018.
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