Albert Tucker Self-portrait

Albert Tucker was one of the Angry Penguins group of artists, whose fiercely modernist outlook sent shockwaves through the art establishment of 1940s Melbourne. Tucker’s often grim imagery depicts the devastation he experienced through the Great Depression and World War II. With no formal training, he studied reproductions of works by post-impressionist and expressionist artists in the city’s public library. During his army service, he created potent images of the physical and mental traumas he witnessed in patients at Victoria’s Heidelberg Military Hospital in 1942. Meeting esteemed psychiatrist Dr Reginald Ellery, Tucker began exploring the intersection between psychology and creativity.

This self-portrait is held in a private collection.