The Art of Joy Hester September 23, 2001 Reporter : Max Cullen Producer : Marianne Latham
The life of Australian artist Joy Hester in many ways parallels that of the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. Like Kahlo, she lived in the shadow of a famous artist — in Joy's case, Albert Tucker. Like Frida, she had marital problems, dilemmas over childbirth, her artwork wasn't favourably received, she was ill for a long time and she died tragically young.
Joy was born in 1920 to a middl-class Melbourne family. She attended St. Michael's Grammar, an all-girls' church school, where she excelled in detention and truancy. At 17, she started at the Melbourne Art Gallery School, and a year later met the older more experienced artist, Albert Tucker. They soon became lovers, and it wasn't long before she was spending more time with Tucker and his friends than in class. With Tucker, she became part of the Contemporary Art Society, rallying against a stuffy art establishment, led in part by the soon-to-be Prime Minister Robert Menzies.
Joy and Bert married and that was the end of art school. Mixing with artists such as Albert Tucker, Danilla Vasillieff and Noel Counihan, Joy learned to paint in a way she would never learn at school. Joy met the wealthy art patrons, John and Sunday Reed. Their home, Heide, just outside Melbourne, was the meeting place for the artists and writers of the modernist movement known as the Angry Penguins. Sunday Reed became Joy's closest friend.
In February 1945, Joy gave birth to a son, Sweeney. When Sweeney was two, Bert went to Japan for three months and Joy met fellow artist Gray Smith. They fell in love and Joy decided to leave Sweeney with the Reeds as she started a new life with Gray. As she was leaving for Sydney, Joy was told she was terminally ill. Joy and Gray had two children and eventually married. Then in 1960, after battling Hodgkin's disease for 13 years, Joy Hester died.
Joy Hester held only three solo exhibitions during her lifetime. Most of her work was shown at the Contemporary Art Society and Herald Sun Outdoor Art shows. The works rarely sold. Many were quick renditions painted in black ink. Her subject matter was often tough. She painted a series of Holocaust pictures after watching the horrific newsreels at the cinema. She painted unflattering nudes and portraits. She also painted tender drawings of Sweeney and later beautiful paintings of her two children with Gray, Fern and Peregrine.
Both the National Gallery in Canberra and the Museum of Modern Art at Heide in Melbourne are currently showing retrospectives of her work.
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The life of Australian artist Joy Hester in many ways parallels that of the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. Like Kahlo, she lived in the shadow of a famous artist — in Joy's case, Albert Tucker. Like Frida, she had marital problems, dilemmas over childbirth, her artwork wasn't favourably received, she was ill for a long time and she died tragically young.
Joy was born in 1920 to a middl-class Melbourne family. She attended St. Michael's Grammar, an all-girls' church school, where she excelled in detention and truancy. At 17, she started at the Melbourne Art Gallery School, and a year later met the older more experienced artist, Albert Tucker. They soon became lovers, and it wasn't long before she was spending more time with Tucker and his friends than in class. With Tucker, she became part of the Contemporary Art Society, rallying against a stuffy art establishment, led in part by the soon-to-be Prime Minister Robert Menzies.
Joy and Bert married and that was the end of art school. Mixing with artists such as Albert Tucker, Danilla Vasillieff and Noel Counihan, Joy learned to paint in a way she would never learn at school. Joy met the wealthy art patrons, John and Sunday Reed. Their home, Heide, just outside Melbourne, was the meeting place for the artists and writers of the modernist movement known as the Angry Penguins. Sunday Reed became Joy's closest friend.
Joy Hester held only three solo exhibitions during her lifetime. Most of her work was shown at the Contemporary Art Society and Herald Sun Outdoor Art shows. The works rarely sold. Many were quick renditions painted in black ink. Her subject matter was often tough. She painted a series of Holocaust pictures after watching the horrific newsreels at the cinema. She painted unflattering nudes and portraits. She also painted tender drawings of Sweeney and later beautiful paintings of her two children with Gray, Fern and Peregrine.
