Editing Joy Hester

{{Short description|Australian artist (1920–1960)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Joy Hester
| image = Joy Hester portrait.jpg
| caption = Hester
| birth_name = Joy St Clair Hester
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1920|8|21}}
| birth_place = [[Melbourne]], Victoria, Australia
| spouse = [[Albert Tucker (artist)|Albert Tucker]] (1941–1947)<br />[[Gray Smith]] (1959–)
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1960|12|4|1920|8|21}}
| death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| nationality = Australian
| field = [[Painting]] and [[drawing]]
| training =
| movement = [[Angry Penguins]]
| works = Love series, Incredible night's dream series, Harry
| patrons =
| influenced by =
| influenced =
| awards =
}}
'''Joy St Clair Hester''' (21 August 1920 – 4 December 1960) was an Australian artist. She was a member of the [[Angry Penguins]] movement and the [[Heide Circle]] who played an integral role in the development of Australian [[Modernism]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Joy Hester|last=Burke, Janine|date=1983|publisher=Greenhouse Publications|isbn=0909104603|location=Richmond, Victoria, Australia|oclc=11370322}}</ref> Hester is best known for her bold and expressive ink drawings.<ref name=":1"/> Her work was charged with a heightened awareness of mortality due to the death of her father during her childhood, the threat of war, and her personal experience with [[Hodgkin's disease]].<ref name=":02"/> Hester is most well known for the series ''Face'', ''Sleep'', and ''Love'' (1948–49)<ref name="AuDB">{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Burke|first=Janine|title=Hester, Joy St Clair (1920–1960)|id2=hester-joy-st-clair-10493|volume=14|year=1996}}</ref> as well as the later works, ''The Lovers'' (1956–58).<ref name=":1"/>

==Biography==

=== Early life ===
Hester was born on the 21 August 1920 and raised in [[Elwood, Victoria|Elwood]] to middle-class parents Louise and Robert Hester. Robert died from a heart attack when Hester was twelve.<ref name="Macgill 79–93">{{Cite journal|last=Macgill|first=Belinda|date=January 2000|title=Joy Hester: a subjective approach|journal=Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art|volume=1|issue=1|pages=79–93|doi=10.1080/14434318.2000.11432655|s2cid=184855099|issn=1443-4318}}</ref> Hester studied art from an early age and was a student at [[St Michael's Grammar School]] from 1933 to 1937.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/joy-hester/personal_details/? |title=Joy Hester b. 1920 Elsternwick, Melbourne, Vic. |work=Design and Art Australia Online |access-date=2014-09-15 }}</ref> At 17, Hester enrolled in Commercial Art at Brighton Technical School for one year before leaving to attend the [[National Gallery School]] in Melbourne.<ref name="AuDB" /> Her curriculum was based in traditional media and practice, however Hester took the opportunity to break free from formal restraints.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|title=Joy Hester and Friends|author=Hart, Deborah|date=2001|publisher=National Gallery of Australia|isbn=0642541655|location=Canberra|oclc=49763040}}</ref> In 1938 Hester won the Gallery School's Drawing Head from Life prize.<ref name=":03"/> Taking up classes at both the Design school, and Painting and Life school gave her early recognition.<ref name=":02" /> Her work during this time, though bound by tradition, was concerned with shadow and tonal shading, the relationships between dark and light.<ref name=":02" />

===Heide period===
In 1938 Hester met fellow artist [[Albert Tucker (artist)|Albert Tucker]] and began living with him intermittently in [[East Melbourne, Victoria|East Melbourne]].<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|title=Dear Sun : the letters of Joy Hester and Sunday Reed|author=Hester, Joy|date=1995|publisher=William Heinemann Australia|others=Reed, Sunday, 1905–1981., Burke, Janine, 1952–|isbn=0855616512|location=Port Melbourne, Victoris|oclc=34338334}}</ref> During the same year Hester became a founding member of the [[Contemporary Art Society (Australia)|Contemporary Art Society]] (CAS), exhibiting with them annually.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-634371|title=Hester, Joy (1920–1960) – People and organisations|website=Trove|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> Hester met Melbourne-based art patron [[Sunday Reed]] in 1939 at the ''Herald Exhibition'', which brought British and French artworks to Australia for the first time.<ref name=":03" /> The two became friends, with Reed nurturing Hester's artistic talent.<ref name=":03" /> Spending much of her time at [[Heide Museum of Modern Art|Heide]] with Sunday and her husband [[John Reed (art patron)|John Reed]], Hester became a member of the [[Heide Circle]].<ref name=":1"/> She was a contemporary of [[Sidney Nolan]], [[Arthur Boyd]], [[Charles Blackman]], [[John Perceval]], [[Yosl Bergner]] and [[Danila Vassilieff]] during this period.<ref name=":1" /> The Heide Circle worked as an extension of the Angry Penguins magazine.<ref name="artgallery.nsw.gov.au">{{Cite web|url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/hester-joy/|title=Joy Hester :: The Collection :: Art Gallery NSW|website=www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> Hester was the only woman to be featured in the Angry Penguins publication.<ref name="AuDB" />

One of her most significant works from this time was ''Nude Study, (''c. 1939–41).<ref name=":02"/> It was her first use of bold, fluid black line work, which is what she is known for today.<ref name=":02"/>

During the early 40s, Hester began depicting the ambience of daily life, via ink drawings of street scenes and factory workers.<ref name=":02"/> She was influenced by artist [[Ailsa O'Connor]], who had similar concerns in her work.<ref name=":02"/> Hester was also drawn to the work of Vassilieff for his philosophical views about how art and life could not be separated.<ref name=":02"/>

By the mid 40s, Hester relinquished her interest in [[oil painting]] to concentrate solely on [[Watercolor painting|watercolor]] and inks.<ref name=":1" /> Her focus shifted towards the motif of the human face, specifically the expression in the eyes.<ref name=":04"/> Using minimal and assertive ink strokes, she rendered her figures with emotional intensity.<ref name=":1" /> ''A Frightened Woman'' (1945) served as a seminal point in establishing Hester's style and media moving forward. Her works aimed to capture the psychological horror of [[World War II]].<ref name=":02"/>

Hester and Tucker married 1941.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8170711|title=Family Notices.|date=2 May 1941|newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]|access-date=15 September 2014|publisher=National Library of Australia|location=Melbourne|page=4}}</ref> Five years later Hester gave birth to a son, Sweeney Reed (1944–1979).<ref name=":03" /> In 1947, when Sweeney was three, Hester was diagnosed with terminal Hodgkin's lymphoma.<ref name=":03" /> Believing she had only 2 years to live, she decided to move to Sydney to live with Melbourne artist [[Gray Smith]], and gave her son into the care of John and Sunday Reed, who subsequently adopted him.<ref name="AuDB" /> Illness impacted heavily on Hester's work and left an indelible mark, loading it with emotional content.<ref name=":02"/> During this period Hester produced the drawings that became part of her notable ''Face'', ''Sleep'' and ''Love'' series.<ref name="AuDB" /> These works were exhibited alongside Hester's poetry in 1950 at her first solo show at the Melbourne Bookclub Gallery.

===Later life===
Hester had two subsequent solo exhibitions in 1955 and 1956<ref name=":02"/> but struggled to sell her art.<ref name=":04">{{Cite journal|last=Mimmocchi|first=Denise|date=2004|title=The Art of Joy Hester: "In Defence of Unwritten History"|journal=Woman's Art Journal|volume=25|issue=2|pages=16–20|doi=10.2307/3566512|issn=0270-7993|jstor=3566512}}</ref> She typically worked on a small scale in black ink and wash, however, Australian modernism favoured large oil paintings,<ref name=":04" /> like those of Nolan.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2056097,00.html|title=Love and Pain Neglected for decades, Joy Hester's art explores human emotions with an unflinching eye|last=Fitzgerald|first=Michael|date=2001-09-10|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> Hester's work failed to garner the same recognition her male peers received, dismissed by critics as "angst-ridden".<ref name="Macgill 79–93"/>

''The Lovers'' series (1956–58) were indicative of her maturing and expressive style. She also published poetry and used her drawings to illustrate her words.<ref name=":04" />

Joy and Smith had two children, a son, Peregrine, in 1951, and a daughter, Fern, in 1954.<ref name=":04" /> The couple married in 1959.<ref name="artgallery.nsw.gov.au"/> After a period of [[Remission (medicine)|remission]] Hester suffered a relapse of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1956 and died on 4 December 1960, aged 40.<ref name="AuDB" /> Hester was laid to rest at the [[Box Hill Cemetery]] in an unmarked grave, at her behest.<ref name=":1"/>

==Legacy==
John and Sunday Reed organised a commemorative exhibition of Hester's work in 1963.<ref name="ArtColl">{{cite journal|last=Burke|first=Janine|authorlink=Janine Burke|year=2001|title=Joy Hester|url=http://www.artcollector.net.au/JoyHester|journal=[[Art Collector (magazine)|Art Collector]]|issue=17|access-date=2014-09-15|archive-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417083250/http://www.artcollector.net.au/JoyHester|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1978, a street in the Canberra suburb of [[Chisholm, Australian Capital Territory|Chisholm]] was named Hester Place in her honour.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240628906|title=Schedule 'B' National Memorials Ordinance 1928–1972 Street Nomenclature List of Additional Names with Reference to Origin – Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Special (National : 1977 – 2012) – 8 Feb 1978|website=Trove|access-date=2019-09-03}}</ref> In 1981, [[Janine Burke]], Hester's biographer, curated the first major retrospective at the [[National Gallery of Victoria]].<ref name="Time01">{{cite magazine |last=Fitzgerald |first=Michael |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2056097,00.html |title=Love and Pain Neglected for decades, Joy Hester's art explores human emotions with an unflinching eye |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |location=New York City |date=2001-09-10 |access-date=2014-09-15 }}</ref> Hester's life and work was the subject of a documentary, ''[[The Good Looker]]'', in 1995.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/good-looker/ |title=The Good Looker (1995) |work=Australian Screen Online |publisher=[[National Film and Sound Archive]] |access-date=2014-09-15 }}</ref> A plaque was erected in 1999 at the Box Hill Cemetery in honour of Hester's contribution to the arts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://billiongraves.com/grave/Joy-Hester/6088886|title=Joy Hester 1920 – 1960 BillionGraves Record|website=BillionGraves|access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> Reviewing her work for [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] in 2001, Michael Fitzgerald wrote "Forty-one years after her death, Hester's drawings still suck the oxygen from the air, providing some of the clearest-eyed images in Australian art".<ref name="Time01"/> In 2018 her ''Love'' and ''The Lovers'' series of works featured in a joint exhibit with [[Patricia Piccinini]] at [[TarraWarra Museum of Art]]. Piccinini credited Hester as a major influence on her own practice; stating: "I love the way her painting, especially those with merged features, are simultaneously surreal and figurative. I am really interested in depictions of love and intimacy in my own work, so I find Hester's approach very inspiring".<ref>"Patricia Piccinini & Joy Hester: Through Love..." by Victoria Lynn, TarraWarra Museum of Art: 2018, {{ISBN|978 0 9944552 7 7}}, p15</ref>

Two plays have been written about her life: ''Joy'' by Christine Croyden,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.christinecroyden.com/ |title=''Joy'' – a performance |website=Christine Croyden |access-date=13 June 2021}}</ref> and ''Hester'' by Wendy Beckett.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wendybeckett.com.au/hester-english |title=Hester |website=Wendy Beckett |access-date=13 June 2021}}</ref> Joy Hester's art was included in the exhibition, ''Know My Name: Australian Women Artists'' ''1900 to Now'' at the [[National Gallery of Australia]], in 2021-2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=National Gallery of Australia |title=Joy Hester |url=https://nga.gov.au/knowmyname/artists/joy-hester/ |access-date=2022-10-12 |website=National Gallery of Australia |language=en}}</ref>

== Exhibitions ==

=== Solo exhibitions ===

* Melbourne Book Club Gallery, 6 February 1950 – 17 February 1950, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* Mirka Cafe, July – August, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* Gallery of Contemporary Art, 9 April 1957 – 23 April 1957, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

==== Posthumous solo exhibitions ====

* ''Joy Hester'', 3 September 1963 – 21 September 1963, Museum of Modern Art and Design of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Drawings by Joy from a private collection'', 2 August 1966 – 12 August 1966, South Yarra Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester Graphics'', 20 October 1970 – 2 November 1970, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester'', 6 October 1976 – 25 October 1976, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester'', April 1977 – May 1977, Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester, Early Works on Paper'', 14 June 1980 – 3 July 1980, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester Retrospective'', 29 September 1981 – 5 December 1981, [[National Gallery of Victoria]], Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester, Early Works'', 2 March 1982 – 18 March 1982, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester: Remember Me'', 28 November 2020 – 21 February 2021, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.<ref>[https://www.heide.com.au/exhibitions/joy-hester-remember-me "Joy Hester: Remember Me"], Heide Museum of Modern Art</ref>

=== Group exhibitions ===

* ''Contemporary Art Society Inaugural Exhibition'', 6 June 1939 – 25 June 1939, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition'', 12 October 1941 – 31 October 1941, Hotel Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition'', 4 August 1942 – 15 August 1942, Athenaeum Art Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition'', 4 August 1943 – 15 August 1943, [[Velasquez Gallery]], Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition'', 21 August 1945 – 31 August 1945, Myer Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition'', November 1946, Education Building, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
* ''Royal Tour Contemporary Art Exhibition'', February 1954 – March 1954, Mirka's Studio, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Commemorative Exhibition'', 6 April 1954 – 23 April 1954, [[Velasquez Gallery|Tye's Gallery]], Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibition'', 10 May 1955 – 21 May 1955, Preston Motors, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Drawing Exhibition'', 19 October 1955 – November 1955, Mirka's Studio, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Inaugural Gift Exhibition'', 1 June 1956 – 16 June 1956, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Victoria Australia.
* ''Olympic Exhibition'', 16 November 1956 – 18 December 1956, organised by the Contemporary Art Society in conjunction with the Gallery of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Poem'', March 1957 – April 1957, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Contemporary Art Society Annual interstate Exhibition'', 26 November 1957 – 6 December 1957, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Collection'', 30 September 1958 – 10 October 1958, Museum of Modern Art of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Herald Outdoor Art Show'', 6 March 1959 – 14 March 1959, [[Treasury Gardens]], Melbourne, Australia.

==== Posthumous group exhibitions ====

* ''Paintings from the collection of Mr & Mrs Carnegie'', 27 October 1966 – 30 November 1966, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Paintings from the collection of Allen D. Christensen'', 7 December 1976 – 22 December 1976, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''The Heroic Years of Australian Painting: 1940–65'', 1977, touring exhibition.
* ''Project 21: Women's Images of Women'', 15 October 1977 – 13 November 1977, [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]], Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
* ''Spring Exhibition'', 24 October 1977 – 7 November 1977, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Genesis of a Gallery, Part 2'', 1978, from the Collection of the [[Australian National Gallery]], touring exhibition.
* ''Autumn Exhibition'', 7 April 1978 – 20 April 1978, Joseph Brown Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Aspects of Australian Drawing'', 1979, [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]], touring exhibition.
* ''Australian Drawings of the Thirties and Forties'', 21 February 1980 – 1 April 1980, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Inaugural Exhibition'', 12 November 1981 – January 1982, Heide Park and Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Glimpses of the Forties'', 12 September 1982 – 7 November 1982, Heide Park and Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
* ''In the Company of Women: 100 years of Australian women's art from the Cruthers collection'', 16 February 1995 – 13 March 1995, [[Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts]], Western Australia.
* ''[[Women Hold Up Half the Sky (exhibition)|Women Hold Up Half the Sky]]'', March 1995 – April 1995, [[National Gallery of Australia]], Canberra, ACT, Australia.
* ''Review'', 8 March 1995 – 8 June 1995, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
* ''Eveolution: An exhibition of women's art from the Newcastle Region Art Gallery collection'', 1995, 9 March 1995 – June 1995, [[Newcastle Art Gallery|Newcastle Region Art Gallery]], Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
* ''A l'hombre des jeunes filles et des fleurs: In the shadow of young girls and flowers'', 10 March 1995 – 28 May 1995, [[Benalla Art Gallery]], Benalla , Victoria, Australia.
* ''Arthur Boyd: Family and Friends'', 1997, [[Ballarat Fine Art Gallery]], Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Modern Australian Women: paintings and prints'' ''1925–1945'', 24 November 2000 – 25 February 2001, [[Art Gallery of South Australia]], Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
* ''Joy Hester and Friends'', 1 September 2001 – 28 October 2001, National Gallery of Australia, ACT, Australia.<ref>[https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/joy-hester-friends/ "Joy Hester & Friends – 1 September – 28 October 2001"], National Gallery of Australia</ref>
* ''Those Who Made and Those Who Saw: Portraits of the Heide Circle'', 3 November 2007 – 15 June 2008, [[Heide Museum of Modern Art]], Bulleen, Victoria.
* ''Look, Look Again'', 20 October 2011 – 15 December 2012, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia.
* ''Patricia Piccinini and Joy Hester: Through Love…'', 24 November 2018 – 11 March 2019, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Victoria, Australia.
* ''Know My Name: Australian Women Artists'' ''1900 to Now,'' 2021-2022, [[National Gallery of Australia]], ACT, Australia.

== Collections ==
Hester's prominence, alongside her Heide Circle counterparts, in shaping Australian modernism have resulted in many Australian institutions acquiring her work.

* [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] (Sydney, NSW)
* [[Art Gallery of South Australia]] (Adelaide, SA)
* [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]] (Perth, WA)
* Ballarat Fine Art Gallery (Ballarat, VIC)
* Benalla Art Gallery (Benalla, VIC)
* [[Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum]] (Castlemaine, VIC)
* [[Cruthers Collection of Women's Art]] at the University of Western Australia (Perth, WA)
* Heide Museum of Modern Art (Bulleen, Melbourne, VIC)
* La Trobe Collection, [[State Library Of Victoria]] (Melbourne, VIC)
* Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre (Mornington Peninsula, VIC)
* [[Newcastle Art Gallery]] (Newcastle, NSW)
* Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery, (Darwin, NT)
* [[Parliament House, Canberra|Parliament House]] (Canberra, ACT)
* [[Queensland Art Gallery]] (Brisbane, QLD)
* [[Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery]] (Hobart, TAS)
* The [[National Gallery of Australia]] (Canberra, ACT)
* The [[National Gallery of Victoria]] (Melbourne, VIC)
* [[University of Adelaide]] (Adelaide, SA)
* [[University of Melbourne]] (Melbourne, VIC)
* [[University of Western Australia]] Art Collection (Perth, WA)
* Warrnambool Art Gallery (Warrnambool, VIC)

== Published poems, letters and miscellaneous ==

* To the Editor, ''Argus'', 23 August 1940, p.&nbsp;5.
* "Untitled", ''A Comment'', March 1943, no. 5, n.p.
* "Micetto, Father of Kisses", and "Awake", ''Ern Malley's Journal'', vol. 1, no. 1, November, 1952, pp.&nbsp;18–19
* ''Memorial Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture of Danila Cassilieff'', Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, June, 1956. Catalogue note by Hester.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Australian Poetry'', 1953, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1953.
* Blackman, Charles and Barbara, "Joy Hester – Her Art", ''Art and Australia'', vol. 1, no 18. Spring 1980, p.&nbsp;68.
* Burke, Janine, ''Australian Gothic: A Life of Albert Tucker'', Sydney: Knopf, 2002.
* Burke, Janine, ''Australian'' ''Women Artists, 1840–1940'', Greenhouse Publications, Melbourne 1980.
* Burke, Janine (ed.), ''Dear Sun: The Letters of Joy Hester and Sunday Reed'', Melbourne: William Heinemann, 1995.
* Burke, Janine "Joy Hester", ''Lip'', 1980, p.&nbsp;58.
* Burke, Janine, ''Joy Hester'', Melbourne: Greenhouse Publications, 1983; Sydney: Vintage, reprint 2001.
* Burke, Janine, ''The Heart Garden: Sunday Reed and Heide'', Sydney: Knopf, 2002.
* Grant, Kirsty, ''Heide Through Time'', Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2015.
* Haese, Richard, ''Rebels Precursors, The Revolutionary Years of Australian art'', Allen Lane, Melbourne 1981.
* Hart, Deborah, ''Joy Hester and friends'', Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2001.
* [[Michael Keon|Keon, Michael]], ''Joy Hester: An Unsettling World'', North Caulfield, Victoria: Malakoff Fine Art Press, 1993.
* Morgan, Kendrah, Lesley Harding, ''Sunday's Kitchen – Food & Living at Heide'', The Miegunyah Press, 2010.
* Morgan, Kendrah, Lesley Harding, ''Modern Love'', Melbourne University Publishing, Melbourne, 2015.
* Morgan, Kendrah, Lesley Harding, ''Sunday's Garden – Growing Heide'', Miegunyah Press, 2012.
* [[Barrett Reid|Reid, Barrett]], "Joy Hester, Draughtsman of Identity", ''Art and Australia'', vol. 4, no. 1, June 1966, p.&nbsp;40.
* Reid, Barrett (ed.), ''Modern Australian Art'', Museum for Modern Art, Melbourne, 1958.
* Syme, Eveline, "Women and Art", in F. Fraser and Nettie Palmer (ed.), ''The Century Gift Book'', Robertson and Mullens, Melbourne, 1934.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/hester-joy/ Joy Hester] at the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]]
*[https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/3765/ Joy Hester] at the [[National Gallery of Victoria]]
*[https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/results?keyword=Joy%20Hester Joy Hester – Works and related material], [[National Gallery of Australia]]

{{Authority control|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hester, Joy St Clair}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1960 deaths]]
[[Category:Heide Circle]]
[[Category:Artists from Melbourne]]
[[Category:Deaths from lymphoma in Australia]]
[[Category:Deaths from Hodgkin lymphoma]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian poets]]
[[Category:Burials at Box Hill Cemetery]]
[[Category:People from Elwood, Victoria]]
[[Category:National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni]]
[[Category:People educated at St Michael's Grammar School]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian painters]]
[[Category:Australian modern painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian women painters]]
[[Category:Women's Art Register artists]]