In 1947, Joy Hester, a prominent 27-year-old Australian artist at the time, was told she had three months to live. What followed was a remarkably captivating life.
Joy Hester saw beauty in a world that was otherwise fleeting, following her diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease, which would see her lose her fight at age 40 in 1960.
On the fringe of a mortal coil, she produced some of her best, most moving works, which would later serve as an important part of the Australian Modernist movement.
Following diagnosis she left behind everything close to her; including husband Albert Tucker, a fellow artist and group member of the ‘Angry Penguins’, as well as her young son Sweeney, in pursuit of an entirely new life with artist Gray Smith. Sweeney would later commit suicide in 1979, following the realisation his real father was most likely Billy Hyde, a Melbourne musician.
Hester’s cancer for the next 7 years became virtually non-existent despite her prognosis.
The first two years following Hester’s departure from her normal life would see her produce some of her finest work, in her “Face”, “Sleep” and “Love” series.
When she returned home in 1948, Hester painted “Woman in Black” a brush and ink self-portrait that directly followed her diagnosis, a deep insight into the sudden complexities of her life and her vulnerability.
For Hester, “Woman in Black” represented a departure from normalcy, and an arrival into grief, loss, and fear towards her shortened life. The figure in her work is ravaged by her innermost emotions, channeled by a stream of consciousness.
Against the advice of her doctors, she had two more children in 1951 and 1954, which prompted the symptoms of her disease to reappear.
It was a disheartening period for Hester; distance and illness saw her art fail to gain popularity and generate revenue, and her disease only continued to deteriorate.
Her final years were spent in Box Hill with her family, where she painted large scale portraits in her studio, most of which communicated her feelings of fear and passion, romance and her perception of the natural world.
In 1960, she succumbed to her illness and died at The Alfred Hospital, on December 4th. Following her death for the very first time, were positive reviews of her work, which were put on display at The Museum of Modern Art.
Joy Hester led a life that ended as it had begun, and though her life was cut short, she left a legacy and a permanent footprint on the Australian art world.
Comments