Joy Hester
Encyclopedia
Joy St Clair Hester was an Australian artist who played an important, though sometimes underrated, role in the development of Australian modernism, though her works could also be considered Abstract Expressionism.
Hester was born in Elsternwick
. She studied art from an early age, and at 17 was enrolled in Commercial Art at Brighton Technical School. She then attended the National Gallery School in Melbourne.
in 1937, whom she began to live with intermittently in 1938 in East Melbourne, and whom she married in 1941. Hester was a contemporary of Sidney Nolan
, Arthur Boyd
, Charles Blackman
, John Perceval
, Laurence Hope
and Danila Vassilieff. She helped to establish the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) and was the only female painter in the modernist movement, the Angry Penguins
. Hester and Tucker had a son, Sweeney Reed (1944–1979). In 1947, when Sweeney was three, Hester was diagnosed with terminal Hodgkin's lymphoma
. Believing she had only 2 years to live, she decided to move to Sydney
to live with Melbourne artist Gray Smith, gave her son into the care of John Reed
and Sunday Reed
, the influential, Melbourne-based art patrons, who subsequently adopted him.
It emerged many years later that Tucker was not Sweeney's biological father, and that he was probably the son of Melbourne jazz drummer Billy Hyde, with whom Hester had had a brief affair. Sweeney Reed committed suicide in 1979.
in 1948 and later lived at Avonsleigh
and Upwey
in the Dandenong Ranges
. She married Gray in 1959. They had two children, Fern and Peregrine. Hester had 3 solo exhibitions but struggled to sell work. She worked mainly in black ink and wash, using quick, spontaneous lines guided by stream of consciousness. She also wrote poetry and used her drawings to illustrate her words.
After a period of remission Hester suffered a relapse of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1956, and died in 1960.
.
Hester was born in Elsternwick
Elsternwick, Victoria
Elsternwick is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira...
. She studied art from an early age, and at 17 was enrolled in Commercial Art at Brighton Technical School. She then attended the National Gallery School in Melbourne.
Heide period
Hester met Albert TuckerAlbert Tucker (artist)
Albert Lee Tucker , a pivotal Australian artist, was a member of the Heide Circle, a group of leading modernist artists and writers that centred on the art patrons John and Sunday Reed, whose home, "Heide", located in Bulleen, near Heidelberg , was a haven for the group...
in 1937, whom she began to live with intermittently in 1938 in East Melbourne, and whom she married in 1941. Hester was a contemporary of Sidney Nolan
Sidney Nolan
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
, Arthur Boyd
Arthur Boyd
Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...
, Charles Blackman
Charles Blackman
Charles Blackman is one of the best known Australian artists still living today, especially for the famous Schoolgirl and Alice in Wonderland series of the 1950s...
, John Perceval
John Perceval
John de Burgh Perceval AO was a well-known Australian artist. Perceval was the last surviving member of a group known as the Angry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s...
, Laurence Hope
Laurence Hope (artist)
Laurence Hope is an Australian artist from Sydney who is best known for his Lover, Dreamers and Isolates paintings.-Early years:...
and Danila Vassilieff. She helped to establish the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) and was the only female painter in the modernist movement, the Angry Penguins
Angry Penguins
Angry Penguins was an Australian literary and artistic avant-garde movement of the 1940s. The movement was stimulated by a modernist magazine of the same name published by the surrealist poet Max Harris, who founded the magazine in 1940, at the age of 18....
. Hester and Tucker had a son, Sweeney Reed (1944–1979). In 1947, when Sweeney was three, Hester was diagnosed with terminal Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma, previously known as Hodgkin's disease, is a type of lymphoma, which is a cancer originating from white blood cells called lymphocytes...
. Believing she had only 2 years to live, she decided to move to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to live with Melbourne artist Gray Smith, gave her son into the care of John Reed
John Reed (art patron)
John Reed was an Australian art editor and patron, notable for supporting and collecting of Australian art and culture with his wife Sunday Reed....
and Sunday Reed
Sunday Reed
Sunday Reed was notable for supporting and collecting Australian art with her husband John Reed.-Personal history:...
, the influential, Melbourne-based art patrons, who subsequently adopted him.
It emerged many years later that Tucker was not Sweeney's biological father, and that he was probably the son of Melbourne jazz drummer Billy Hyde, with whom Hester had had a brief affair. Sweeney Reed committed suicide in 1979.
Return to Melbourne
The illness impacted heavily on Hester's work and left an indelible mark on it, loaded with emotional content. Hester and Gray moved to rural HurstbridgeHurstbridge, Victoria
Hurstbridge is a semi-rural town in Victoria, Australia, 26 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, at the junction of Diamond Creek and Arthur's Creek. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Nillumbik. At the 2006 Census, Hurstbridge had a population of 3448.- History...
in 1948 and later lived at Avonsleigh
Avonsleigh, Victoria
Avonsleigh is a town in Victoria, Australia, 47 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Cardinia. At the 2006 Census, Avonsleigh had a population of 325.-History:...
and Upwey
Upwey, Victoria
Upwey is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges and City of Knox. At the 2006 Census, Upwey had a population of 6,760.-History:...
in the Dandenong Ranges
Dandenong Ranges
The Dandenong Ranges are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
. She married Gray in 1959. They had two children, Fern and Peregrine. Hester had 3 solo exhibitions but struggled to sell work. She worked mainly in black ink and wash, using quick, spontaneous lines guided by stream of consciousness. She also wrote poetry and used her drawings to illustrate her words.
After a period of remission Hester suffered a relapse of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1956, and died in 1960.
Exhibitions
John and Sunday Reed organised a commemorative exhibitions of Joy Hester's work in 1963. In 1981, Janine Burke, Hester's biographer, curated the first major retrospective at the National Gallery of VictoriaNational Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
.
Further reading
- Janine Burke, Australian Women Artists:1840-1940, Melbourne: Greenhouse Publications, 1980.
- Michael KeonMichael KeonMichael Keon was an Australian political journalist and author. His articles and books mainly focus on Asian politics and the military actions that surround the changes and transitions in political power.-Biography:...
, Joy Hester: An Unsettling World, North Caulfield, Victoria: Malakoff Fine Art Press, 1993. - Joy Hester, Melbourne: Greenhouse Publications, 1983; Sydney: Vintage, reprint 2001.
- Australian Gothic: A Life of Albert Tucker, Sydney: Knopf, 2002.
- The Heart Garden: Sunday Reed and Heide, Sydney: Knopf, 2002.
- Janine Burke,(ed) Dear Sun: The Letters of Joy Hester and Sunday Reed, Melbourne: William Heinemann, 1995.