Australian Gothic a life of Albert Tucker. Janine Burke. 2002.

Australian Gothic is the first biography of Albert Tucker-one of Australia's most significant and influential artists. 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 and compelling account of the life and work of this fascinating man.

Acclaimed author, curator and art historian Janine Burke enjoyed a twenty-two year association with Albert Tucker, and Australian Gothic draws on hours of conversations and interviews she conducted with him. Burke's intimate understanding of her subject is consolidated by original research and her acute critique of Tucker's oeuvre.

A member of the 'Angry Penguins' group, which included Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Joy Hester, Albert Tucker is best remembered for his paintings of wartime Melbourne: Images of Modern Evil. He showed the city streets as they have never been painted before or since—as the site of evil, carnality and darkness.

Burke also traces the influence of fellow artist Joy Hester on Tucker's career. Passionate and gifted, Hester was Tucker's great love and muse.

Controversially, Burke argues that following Hester's abandonment of Tucker, his art changed irrevocably.

Meticulously researched, vivid and absorbing, Australian Gothic brilliantly captures the intensity of Albert Tucker's remarkable life.

Janine Burke has written what will surely become the definitive biography of a complex and captivating man.