Joy Hester : remember me

Melbourne : Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2020. Quarto, illustrated boards, pp. 168, illustrated. A fine copy. Book accompanying a solo exhibition at Heide, which was postponed due to COVID.

‘This exibition marks the centenary of the birth of Joy Hester (1920-1960), acknowledged today as one of Australia is most original and compelling artists, whose distinctive personal vision and haunting imagery resonates strongly with contemporary audiences. Hester worked almost exclusively in brush and ink or watercolour to create potent expressions of the figure and face, using drawing as a vehicle to grasp the complexity of the human condition. Described by her close friend Barbara Blackman as ‘an amazing, abundant, reckless, irreverent consumer and creator of life’, she explored the myriad ways we respond to experiences and the world around us, revealing our vulnerabilities and strengths. Her intuitive aesthetic, graphic intensity and manifestly female subjectivity saw her work dismissed in her lifetime by critics as too emotional and personal, yet it resonates strongly with contemporary audiences. The publication includes an introduction to Hester’s work and overview of the exhibition and its themes by curator Kendrah Morgan which traces Hester’s creative trajectory, from early figure studies and formative depictions of transitory city life, to her powerful responses to the oppressive climate of war, her psychological portraits and later, authentic investigations of human intimacy and childhood. This is followed by an essay by renowned drawing specialist Deanna Petherbridge which discusses in depth Hester’s unnerving trope of ‘disparate eyes’ and puts forward a theoretical and propositional framework for interpreting her art in terms of European Surrealism and the concepts expounded by some of its key proponents. ‘ – the publisher.