William - Aspendale

William Mora (1953–2023), art dealer and gallerist, was the eldest son of artist Mirka Mora and restauranteur and gallery owner Georges Mora. Growing up surrounded by artists such as Charles Blackman, Albert Tucker and John Perceval, it was perhaps inevitable that William would have a career in art. William began his career working at his father's Tolarno Galleries, established in 1967 and one of the first commercial galleries in Melbourne. He opened his own gallery, William Mora Galleries, in Flinders Lane in 1985. From 1987 he began representing his mother Mirka and presented more than 50 exhibitions of her work. In early 2000, he relocated to a purpose-built contemporary art space in in Tanner Street, Richmond, combining exhibition and viewing galleries with a residence for himself and his family. The facility also included a studio/home next door for Mirka, where she lived and worked until just before her death in 2018.

In the mid-1960s Lazar Krum took several portraits of Mirka Mora and her family at her studio/home in Collins Street, Melbourne and her beach house at Aspendale. Here William stands in front of one of his mother's charcoal drawings, his expression reflecting the unique figures and faces in her work.

Gift of the artist 2015