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Details
- Other Title
- Figure with Scale
- Date
- 1957
- Media categories
- Drawing , Watercolour
- Materials used
- brush and ink, watercolour, gouache on paper on cardboard
- Dimensions
- 57.9 x 46.2 cm sheet
- Signature & date
Signed and dated c., pencil "Joy Hester '57".
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the John Gillespie Bequest 2013
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 194.2013
- Copyright
- © Estate of Joy Hester/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Joy Hester
Works in the collection
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About
Although she was known for her association with art patrons John and Sunday Reed and the group of artists centred at the Reeds’ home, Heide, in 1940s Melbourne, Joy Hester was a significant Australian modernist artist in her own right and acclaimed for her highly expressionistic, personal drawings.
Hester's incisive and forcefully rendered drawings are unique among the circle of artists associated with the Reeds, including Albert Tucker, to whom she was briefly married. After her diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease in 1947, Hester left Tucker and their young son, for a new life with the artist and poet Gray Smith.
The subject of Hester's 'Figure with scales' arose from a period spent in the rural area of Avonsleigh outside Melbourne where she and Smith eked out a living on the land, growing crops and keeping chickens for a time. After a spell of warm weather, and without refrigeration, the newly slaughtered birds began to decay, their scheme for profiting from their chickens ending in disaster. 'Figure with scales' conveys a surreal, dream-like strangeness that charges a simple, everyday subject with poetic and emotional force and epitomises the extraordinary expressive power and psychological insight that is characteristic of Hester's drawings.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 5 exhibitions
Joy Hester commemorative exhibition, Museum of Modern Art and Design, Melbourne, Sep 1963–Unknown
Paintings from the collection of Allen D. Christensen, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 07 Dec 1976–22 Dec 1976
Joy Hester, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 29 Sep 1981–06 Dec 1981
Joy Hester and friends, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 01 Sep 2001–28 Oct 2001
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 17 publications
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Michael Brand, Look, 'From the Gallery director', pg. 11, Sydney, Sep 2013, 11.
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Janine Burke, Joy Hester, Melbourne, 1981, 50 (illus.). titled 'Figure with Scale'; cat.no. 66
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Janine Burke, Joy Hester, Elwood, 1983, 164 (illus.).
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Charles and Barbara Blackman, Art and Australia (Vol. 18, No. 1), 'Artist'ts choice No. 5- Joy Hester', pg. 68-70, Sydney, Spring 1980, 68. reference to context and media of 'Figure with scales'
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Hal Crawford (Editor in Chief), ninemsn.com.au, 'Art Gallery NSW snaps up Grundy works', Sydney, 01 Jul 2013, n.pag.. viewed 01.07.2013, http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/2013/07/01/14/46/art-gallery-nsw-snaps-up-grundy-works
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Alexandra Djurichkovic., Australian art collector online, 'AGNSW reveals major new Australian acquisitions', Sydney, 03 Jul 2013, n.pag.. viewed 03.07.2013, http://www.artcollector.net.au/AGNSWrevealsnewAustralianacquisitions
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Steve Dow., smh.com.au, 'Sold! Grundy art collection takes in record $19m', Sydney, 26 Jun 2013, n.pag.. viewed 26.06.2013, http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/sold-grundy-art-collection-takes-in-record-19m-20130626-2oxuu.html
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Steve Dow, smh.com.au, 'Gallery's $3.85m painting splurge causes a few gasps', pg. 20, Sydney, 02 Jul 2013, 20.
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Steve Dow., smh.com.au, 'Gasps as Art Gallery of NSW shells out millions on Brack', Sydney, 01 Jul 2013, n.pag.. viewed 01.07.2013, http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/gasps-as-art-gallery-of-nsw-shells-out-millions-on-brack-20130701-2p6r2.html
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Deborah Hart, Joy Hester and friends, 'Other worlds: 1947-1960', pg. 55-119, Melbourne, 2001, 90, 91 (colour illus.).
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Terry Ingham., www.aasd.com.au, 'AGNSW makes big breakfast of Grundy', Armadale, 01 Jul 2013, n.pag.. viewed 02.07.2013, http://www.aasd.com.au/index.cfm/news/384-agnsw-makes-big-breakfast-of-grundy/
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Caroline Jordan, Important Australian art from the collection of Reg Grundy AC OBE and Joy Chambers-Grundy, 'Joy Hester', pg. 46-47, Sydney, 2013, 46, 47 (colour illus.). lot no. 11; estimated price $80,000-120,000.
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National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Paintings from the collection of Allen D. Christensen, ‘Paintings from the collection of Allen D. Christensen’, pg. 1-15, Melbourne, 1976, 4. titled 'Figure with Scale'; cat.no. 18
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Jeni Porter (Editor in Chief), The Australian Financial Review, 'Art Gallery of NSW gets back in the Brack', Melbourne, 04 Jul 2013, 18. author unknown
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Anne Ryan, Look, 'Joy Hester: important addition to the Gallery collection', pg. 10-11, Sydney, Apr 2014, 10, 11 (colour illus.).
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Katrina Strickland, The Australian Financial Review, 'Public galleries go for Grundys', pg. 3, Melbourne, 29 Jun 2013-30 Jun 2013, 3.
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Tammy Weller., www.artshub.com.au, 'Art Gallery of NSW acquires new Australian works', Australia, 02 Jul 2013, n.pag. (colour illus.). viewed 04.07.2013, http://au.artshub.com/au/news-article/news/arts/art-gallery-of-nsw-acquires-new-australian-works-195872
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