Born in 1920, Joy St Clair Hester was an artist
who played an important role in the development
of Australian modernism. Her dramatic work
fearlessly captured the emotional extremes of
human experience. A beautiful, exuberant and unconventional woman, Hester’s expression as
an artist was as radical as her life.
As the only female member of the Angry Penguins,
along with first husband Albert Tucker, Arthur
Boyd and Sidney Nolan, she helped modernise
the art establishment of Australia in the 1940s.
Her preference for pen and ink drawing made her
style unique amongst the arts community of today,
as did her practise of sitting on the floor to draw.
A woman of passion and extremes, her legacy still inspires creative souls everywhere.
