Frank Joseph Charles Marjason was born in 1914 in Oatley, NSW, son of Frank Leslie Marjason and Gladys Josephine Marjason née Coleman. His mother was an artist, who studied art at East Sydney Technical College under Desiderius Orban. Frank had two brothers, Leonard Cecil Marjason and Kenneth William Marjason.

Marjason attended North Sydney Boys’ High School from 1926 to 1930. He then attended night classes at East Sydney Technical College for a year of drawing classes in 'antique detail’ and 'life’, both from plaster casts. Marjason worked for the Commonwealth Bank for forty-three years, twenty years of which he worked as a bank manager. This was interrupted in 1941-44 by World War II, in which he served as a Lieutenant in the Australian Army, 31/51 Battalion, in the Torres Strait Islands and Dutch New Guinea. He had previously joined the Militia in 1932.

In 1943 in Cairns, Qld, Marjason married Edna Florence Greig, a Warrant Officer in the Royal Australian Navy, who was killed six months later in New Guinea. In 1945 he married Alma Eileen Wallace. They had two sons, Peter David Marjason and Daniel Frank Marjason.

In the 1950s, Marjason studied art with Louis Kahan at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In the late 1960s, while a bank manager in Queanbeyan, NSW, he started painting and took life classes in Canberra under John Coburn. He subsequently studied art with Tom Cleghorn at Randwick Technical College and with Ross Davis in Bathurst, NSW, and attended workshops at the University of NSW. Marjason also completed a Diploma in Welfare at Sydney Technical College from 1971-73. In 1976 he married Margaret Ann Marjason, née Latham, who is a hobby artist.

Marjason has been an active hobby artist since about 1970, exhibiting regularly with the Drummoyne Art Society and frequently receiving awards. In 2002 he attended printmaking and painting classes at the Workshop Painting Centre, Willoughby, NSW. From this period he also conducted Artability classes for people with disabilities at the Drummoyne Community Centre. Marjason’s prints are woodcuts, linocuts, or collagraphs. His paintings are mostly acrylic on canvas, often with a home-made frame. Marjason’s works portray local subjects, typically groups of people, schools, and churches.

Besides art, Marjason’s activities have included woodwork, silver-smithing, bonsai, and music. He played the piano and banjo before World War II, and took up the flute on retirement. He has also played the mouth organ.

Writers:

Rost, Fred

Date written:

2011

Last updated:

2011