Laurence Hope (artist)

Laurence Hope
Laurence Hope at 34, photographed by James Brian McArdle at Beaumaris on 28 May 1961
Born	(1927-03-09) 9 March 1927 (age 89)
Occupation	Artist

Laurence Hope (born 9 March 1927) is an Australian artist from Sydney who is best known for his Lover, Dreamers and Isolates paintings.

Laurence Hope was raised in an artistic environment, his parents, Norman and Gertrude Hope, were practicing artists who met at Brisbane Technical College in the 1920s. His father ran a successful illustration and printing business and from early age Hope would undertake commercial artistic assignments for the family business.

He had a stable early family life with his parents and older brother Norman, living first in Dee Why and then moving to Seaforth during the depression years. His local primary school in Seaforth brought him into contact with a young Charles Blackman, with whom he was to form a close friendship many years later. Hope later attended East Sydney Technical College and quickly developed a mature style from an early age leading to success in a number of art awards, most notably the national Sun Youth Art Prize in 1940 for the painting Sydney Orchestra.

In 1944 at the age of 17 Hope left home and travelled to Brisbane. Penniless, he spent a number of nights sleeping rough before meeting the poet Barrett Reid who took him to stay at his parents, this was the start of a lifelong friendship. A string of temporary jobs followed to help facilitate his art which remained largely concerned with depicting the dispossessed and vulnerable in society.

Intellectually Hope aligned himself with the Barjai Group, a collection of writers and poets led by Barrett Reid, and with members including Barbara Patterson and Charles Osborne. Later, in 1945 along with Pamela Seeman and Laurence Collison, he formed the Miya Studios with the aim of providing exhibition space for young artists with common goals. Laurence Hope exhibited at their annual exhibition during the life of the Studios from 1945-49. During this time he became re-acquainted with Charles Blackman, the two travelled, painted and lived together over a number of years. Blackman credited Hope with helping him adjust to life as an artist during this time.

On a hitchhiking trip with Barrett Reid in 1947 he was introduced to John and Sunday Reed who were to become lifelong supporters of his art. Though them Hope became acquainted with many of the influential avant-garde in the Melbourne art scene such as Joy Hester, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and John Perceval.