Pauline and Loy

Pauline and Loy, 1947, is one of only a few known oil paintings to be created by leading Melbourne-born artist Joy Hester, whose expressive brush-and-ink drawings on paper are more widely acknowledged. The mother and child scene emerged during a pivotal moment in the artist’s life and was painted in gratitude to the subject, her friend Pauline. Hester, a member of the artist circle known as the Angry Penguins, created this painting soon after receiving her terminal Hodgkins Disease diagnosis at the age of twenty-seven and deciding to leave her artist-husband Albert Tucker and their young son Sweeney. Pauline supported Hester during this period, allowing her to stay in her Fitzroy home, where this work was executed.

The direct painterly method through which Hester typically approached her works on paper has been transferred to this rare oil painting on board. The subject has been captured through a series of rapidly applied brushstrokes, which also direct the flow of a carefully considered composition. Positioned within an ambiguous interior space, the mother and child are bound together through a series of complex concentric curves, which draw the eye into an inward spiral. The sensitively recorded scene exudes the feelings of tenderness associated with love, motherhood and new life, and demonstrates Hester’s extraordinary ability to visually express the complexities of human emotion.

Elle Freak, Associate Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture