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.
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.
