Life and career of renowned Australian artists.
Throughout the 1900s, numerous renowned Australian artists emerged, each showcasing a variety of styles. A significant influence on Australian art came from the Angry Penguins, a collective of painters who pioneered the modernist movement in Melbourne, Australia. This group challenged the conventions of the time, striving to rejuvenate the creative arts, which felt restrictive during the 1940s. They were a passionate and rebellious group of artists.
Influenced by surrealism and French symbolism, the Angry Penguins aimed to provide Australian artists with innovative means of expression. Their gatherings took place at the home of affluent patrons John and Sunday Reed Heide, serving as a central hub for writers and artists.
Arthur Boyd distinguished himself as a master painter, potter, and graphic artist, hailing from a family of talented artists. Serving in the Australian Army during World War II, Boyd established a pottery workshop in Murrumbeena in 1944, where he created ceramics until 1955, including figures of angels and other objects. Beginning his painting career at a young age, he earned recognition for his landscapes and depictions of Aboriginal tribes. His acquisition of property near the Shoalhaven River inspired him to create numerous paintings of the area’s scenery.
Albert Tucker, another prominent Australian artist, was a member of the Heide Circle, a group comprised of modern artists and writers. Lacking formal training, he attended The Victorian Artists Society three nights a week to hone his skills in life drawing. As a post-impressionist and social realist, Tucker gained notoriety for illustrating patients suffering from war-related wounds and mental illness.
His art often conveyed unsettling themes, reflecting the harsher realities of life, laden with fear, trauma, and struggle. Experimenting with color and techniques, Tucker primarily taught himself and absorbed knowledge from the Angry Penguins. During World War II, he sketched for a medical team.
In later years, Tucker transitioned to painting religious subjects and women of the streets. When he delved into landscape painting, his works captured a sense of hopelessness and inhospitability, often commenting on moral decay and declining societal values. His achievements included receiving a Kurt Geiger Award from the Museum of Modern Art.
Sidney Nolan is celebrated as an Australian outback painter, known for his intricate historical paintings characterized by dark, moody themes. He painted notable figures, including bush ranger Ned Kelly, infusing his work with a sense of timelessness relating to exploration and travel. Although he studied art sporadically, Nolan was deeply inspired by literature and poetry, drawing influence from modernist artists such as Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. His contributions also included illustrating books and designing sets for ballet and opera performances.
Joy Hester was the sole female artist among the Angry Penguins. In the 1930s, she became a member of the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne. Preferring to draw with brush and ink rather than paint, she faced misperceptions of being a casual artist. Hester specialized in capturing emotions through her portraits, particularly focusing on the eyes, and created many studies of friends and family between 1946 and 1947.
After being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, she left her husband to forge a relationship with artist Gary Smith in Sydney. In the subsequent two years, Hester produced her most notable works, portraying children and intimate moments shared between men and women. Additionally, she ventured into poetry.
John Perceval, an artist who lived from 1923 to 2000, had minimal formal art training. He began his artistic journey in high school by copying and studying the works of famous artists. During his military enlistment, he met Arthur Boyd, another Angry Penguins member, and served as a draftsman, encountering John Boyd, yet another member of the collective.
Known for his religious and mystical themes, Perceval’s works largely encompassed landscapes and seascapes of Australia, illustrating the social dynamics of Melbourne. As his career progressed, he produced landscapes imbued with a childlike, carefree tone. Perceval was the last surviving member of the Angry Penguins, contending with polio, mental illness, and alcoholism throughout his life.
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