Angry Penguins
Encyclopedia
Angry Penguins was an Australia
n literary and artistic avant-garde
movement of the 1940s. The movement was stimulated by a modernist magazine of the same name published by the surrealist poet Max Harris, who founded the magazine in 1940, at the age of 18.
Though the magazine first appeared in the city of Adelaide
, South Australia, the subsequent radical modernist movement of that name was based largely in Melbourne
, Victoria. The name itself was derived from the cryptic line "the angry penguins of the night" in a poem by Harris (Mithridatum of Despair).
The style of the Angry Penguins were early Australian exponents of surrealism
and expressionism
. This led James McAuley
and Harold Stewart
during their time at the Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs
to create the group's most famous event, the Ern Malley hoax
and the subsequent trial for indecency.
Members of the painting group included John Perceval
, Arthur Boyd
, Sidney Nolan
, Danila Vassilieff, Albert Tucker
and Joy Hester
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n literary and artistic avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
movement of the 1940s. The movement was stimulated by a modernist magazine of the same name published by the surrealist poet Max Harris, who founded the magazine in 1940, at the age of 18.
Though the magazine first appeared in the city of Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, South Australia, the subsequent radical modernist movement of that name was based largely in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria. The name itself was derived from the cryptic line "the angry penguins of the night" in a poem by Harris (Mithridatum of Despair).
The style of the Angry Penguins were early Australian exponents of surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
. This led James McAuley
James McAuley
James Phillip McAuley was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism.-Life and career:...
and Harold Stewart
Harold Stewart
Harold Frederick Stewart was an Australian poet and oriental scholar. He is chiefly remembered as the enigmatic other half of Ern Malley.Stewart's work has been associated with James McAuley and A. D...
during their time at the Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs
Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs
DORCA, the Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs was a mysterious and difficult to categorise think tank and possibly intelligence organisation within the Australian Army in WWII....
to create the group's most famous event, the Ern Malley hoax
Ern Malley
Ernest Lalor "Ern" Malley was a fictitious poet and the central figure in Australia's most celebrated literary hoax. The poet, and his entire body of work, were created in one day in 1944 by writers James McAuley and Harold Stewart as a hoax on Max Harris, Angry Penguins, the modernist magazine he...
and the subsequent trial for indecency.
Members of the painting group included John Perceval
John Perceval
John de Burgh Perceval AO was a well-known Australian artist. Perceval was the last surviving member of a group known as the Angry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s...
, Arthur Boyd
Arthur Boyd
Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...
, Sidney Nolan
Sidney Nolan
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
, Danila Vassilieff, Albert Tucker
Albert Tucker (artist)
Albert Lee Tucker , a pivotal Australian artist, was a member of the Heide Circle, a group of leading modernist artists and writers that centred on the art patrons John and Sunday Reed, whose home, "Heide", located in Bulleen, near Heidelberg , was a haven for the group...
and Joy Hester
Joy Hester
Joy St Clair Hester was an Australian artist who played an important, though sometimes underrated, role in the development of Australian modernism, though her works could also be considered Abstract Expressionism....
.