Montsalvat by Sigmund Jorgensen

Montsalvat: The intimate story of an Australian artists' colony by Sigmund Jorgensen  

I came across an article on the Melbourne Age of Saturday 30 August 2014 re the newly released book Montsalvat: The intimate story of an Australian artists' colony. Now what's my interest in the the colourful history of the legendary Melbourne artists' colony, Montsalvat, and the story of its founder Justus Jorgensen as told by his son Sigmund.

Well, it's simple. As a young child, I lived on my uncle Jack's dairy farm in Dalton St, Eltham, just outside Melbourne. Montsalvat was just up the road we knew the main players like Justus Jorgenson and Helen Skipper. I remember Arthur Munday with his fruit and vegetable van. I remember Helen Skipper driving down Dalton St and stopping to talk to my uncle Jack.

I have also been to Montsalvat for lunch and, like the many visitors there, have wandered around the grounds and admired the many buildings.

I eventually ordered the book from Dymocks in December 2016 and have just finished reading it - and what a fantastic read it was. A veritible who's who of the artistic world have flocked to Montsalvat over the years. While places like Heidi might be more well known and more frequented, Montsalvat is a much grander place and has a much grander history.

The first thing that comes across is the vision of Justus Jorgensen and the story of how he made that vision a reality, calling on friends and students and supporters, both financial and non financial, to work weekends at the block of land in Eltham, using either scrounged second hand materials or making their own materials like adobe or mud brick. It was a task that started in 1934 and continues to this day. He was very much the fuedal master with his accolytes in attendance. But realistically this is what it took to make such a grand vision a reality, and all on a shoestring budget.

The second thing that comes out of the book is the huge contribution of Sigmund Jorgenson who was chief executive and artistic director from 1969 to 2005. Without his lifetime dedication, Montsalvat would have disintegrated with Justus's passing. The huge cost in keeping such a project going, along with the need to keep the original vision of an artist's colony, was a mammoth undertaking and Sigmund has indeed done it well.

Now I must pass the book onto my two older brothers to read. And I must revisit Montsalvat and tour it with the extra knowledge which is now in my possession.