'The Angry Penguins' was a modernist literary and artistic group that sought to shake up the art establishment of Australia in the 1940s. The movement was run by a group who centred around poet Max Harris, and the movement took their name from an art and literary magazine first published by Harris in 1940. Their views met with an equally strong and passionate resistance. They were a target for those who found the modernist trends in art and literature contemptable. Members of the Penguin painting groupincluded Arthur Boyd, Albert Tucker, Sidney Nolan and Joy Hester. Like their literary counterparts, these painters fought against the largely dominant conservative styles of the day and were strongly influenced by early European expressionismand surrealism. The Angry Penguins were spontaneous and imaginative in their approach to their artwork. The symbolic surrealism in the works by Nolan, Boyd, Hester and Tucker added a new and exciting dimension to a stagnant Australian art scene.
Arthur Boyd (1920 - 1999)is recognised as a painter, potter and graphic artist, nationally and internationally. Boyd was conscripted into the Australian Army during World War II where he met John Perceval, who later married his sister Mary. In 1944, along with his brother, Guy Boyd, they established a pottery workshop and turned their energy to ceramic work until 1955, creating a series of angel figures, before returning to painting. Boyd lived in England from 1959 - 68 before returning to Australia.
As an artist, Sidney Nolan(1917 - 1992) is best known for his depictions of the Australian outback, and for his historical paintings well known for dramatic shifts between dark, moody themes. In 1946 he began a series of paintings on the theme of the bushranger Ned Kelly. Nolan is attributed with giving the Australian stories of exploration and other 'legends of failure', including Gallipoli, a timeless quality. Key influences of Sidney Nolan were the modernist artists such as Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse and Rousseau.Sidney Nolan is held by many to be Australia's most internationally famousartist and is referred to as one of the major artists of the twentieth century in Western art and much of his work is on display in the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1974, Nolan donated 24 of his works to the Australian public, held as the Nolan Gallery's Foundation Collectionat Lanyon, ACT.
Albert Tucker(1914 - 1999) is considered to be a key figure in modern Australian art although many people find his works unsettling. Tucker depicted the darker side of life- showing fear, trauma, anxiety and struggle in his paintings. He often worked with paints he had made himself, always experimenting with paints and ideas - including those of the surrealist artists. Tucker was largely self-taught as well as learning from other artists including the Angry Penguins. In the late 1930s, his works were seen by Sunday and John Reed and he began his involvement with the painters Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd at the Reed's Heide homestead. This group included fellow artist Joy Hester, who became his wife. Tucker came to the notice of Melbourne art critics in the 1940s. During World War II, Tucker worked sketching wounds for a medical team. On his return to Melbourne, he painted a series of works depicting a city without any moral conscience. Tucker spent time in England and Europe after he separated from his wife. This stay gave rise to a fresh new series of 'monstrous prostitutes and troubled religious paintings'. In 1958 the subject of his works changed from city to outback. Tucker depicted the outback as completely inhospitable. The work Burke and Wills from this series was the second of his works to be included in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art. In 1960, Tucker received the Kurt Geiger Award from the Museum of Modern Art, Australia, that payed for him to return to Australia for a retrospective of his work.
Joy Hester(1920 - 1960) was part of the group of painters who joined the Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne during the late 1930s. There she met and married the artist Albert Tucker and soon left 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. Sunday Reed, the art patron, became Joy's closest friend. At the age of 27 she was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease and subsequently left Tucker and believing she had only months to live, she decided to move to Sydneyto live with Melbourne artist Gray Smith, She gave her son into the care of John and Sunday Reed, the influential, Melbourne-based art patrons, who subsequently adopted him. During her lifetime, Hester had only three exhibitions and sold very little.A number of commemorative exhibitions of Joy Hester’s work have been held, including: Georges Gallery in Melbourne (1963) and the National Gallery of Victoria(1981) and a touring exhibition curated by Lauraine Diggins (1993). Her work is also included in a number of publications: Australian Women Artists; 1840-1940 and The Great Australian Art Exhibition 1788-1988; A Century of Australian Women Artists 1840s-1940s.