Australian gothic: A life of Albert Tucker

by Janine Burke

The acclaimed biography of one of Australia's pre-eminent artists, Albert Tucker.

Australian Gothic is the first biography of Tucker, one of Australia's most significant and influential artists. A member of the 'Angry Penguins' group which included Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Joy Hester, Tucker is best remembered for his paintings of wartime Melbourne: Images of Modern Evil. He showed the city streets as they had never been shown before – as the site of evil, carnality and darkness.

Burke's research also analyses the inlfuence of fellow artisy Joy Hester on Tucker's career. Passionate, earthy and gifted, Hester was Tucker's great love and muse. Controversially, Burke argues that following Hester's abandonment of Tucker, his art changed irrevocably.

Author, curator and art historian, Janine Burke, enjoyed a 22-year association with Tucker, and her biography draws on hours of conversations and interviews she conducted with him. Written with a friend's respect and affection, and a scholar's deep appreciation of the forces that shaped Tucker's career, it provides a comprehensive account of his life and work. Meticulously researched, vivid and absorbing, Australian Gothic is the definitive biography of this complex and captivating man.

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Dr. Janine Burke is an art historian and biographer, and has written eight books of fiction and art history. She has degrees from the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. She was a lecturer in art history until she resigned from her job to become a full-time writer, which she has been for the last ten years.

Her books include Australian Women Artists, 1840-1940, Second Sight, which won the 1987 Victorian Premier's Award for Fiction, and Company of Images, which was shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year award and the Miles Franklin Award. Her novel for teenagers, Journey to Bright Water, is published by Mammoth. She also contributed to Libby Hawthorn's anthology of short stories, The Blue Dress.

Janine has curated exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, and currently holds a research fellowship at Monash University. She lives in Melbourne, where she regularly reviews, lectures and broadcasts on radio.

Reviews

[F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping, expansive yet poignant, Burke's illustration of renowned Australian artist Albert Tucker provides the dramatic portrait of the man behind dark collections such as "Images of Modern Evil". Although critical of Tucker's more conservative stances, Burke nevertheless shows a side to a complicated and intimidating man that was soft and vulnerable. She reveals a man who was meticulous, yet sporadic; cold yet highly emotional. Tucker is a man who strived to succeed and yet longed to be better. It is difficult to put this book down and is a must-read for anyone who shares a fascination for Australian art.

[Shula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb.

[Bryn Hammond]

Stars? Pooh.
From the Sunday markets. I don't often go for biography, but Albert Tucker nailed me to the spot once at an exhibition and Joy Hester, his 'fellow artist, great love and muse', painted Girl with Book on Head, that has been an icon to me for years.