painter, illustrator and commercial artist, was born in Bexley, NSW. He trained from 1931 to 1934 at East Sydney Technical College under Douglas Dundas and Frank Medworth and in 1934-35 was at J. S. Watkins’s art school. He first exhibited with the Society of Artists in 1940. In 1941 he was one of seven artists who contributed to the first of the Frank Johnson one-shot comic books, Amazing , drawing a comic called 'Scorch Morgan’. (The other artists contributing comics were Unk White , Norm Rice , Les Dixon , Carl Lyon , Frank Jessup and Dan Russell .)

During the War Hedstrom worked in Melbourne as Mobile Technical Training illustrator for the RAAF then was an 'unofficial’ war artist in Labuan, North Borneo. One of his war paintings received an honourable mention in the 1945 'Australia at War’ travelling exhibition. His work is held in the Australian War Memorial. He met Marjory Penglase at one of John Rowell’s classes in Melbourne and the couple held a joint exhibition at the Myer Gallery in February 1946. Back at Sydney, the two lived in Queen Street, Woollahra, for three or so years, doing freelance illustration and sharing a studio at 236 George Street with Theo Batten. Under various aliases as well as his own name, Headstrom undertook commissions for Frank Johnson, e.g. as 'Observer’ he drew the educational series 'How It Works’. He also contributed to K.G. Murray’s publishing empire, drawing for Murray’s short story magazine in 1949 (for which Penglase also drew a series of dinkuses), for Murray’s 'Front Page Mystery’ series and for Man magazine. As 'N. H.’ he drew for F.J. Thwaites Pty Ltd, and as 'anon’ did a series of comic advertisements for Lifebuoy soap, “o-ooh, that was a close shave” (1950-51).

Hedstrom and Penglase were inaugural members of the studio of Realist Art [SORA] and Hedstrom served as a committee member in 1946-47. He exhibited oil paintings and watercolours in SORA’s annual exhibitions at David Jones’ Art Gallery (1946-49) and wrote a statement 'on the subject that realism and propaganda in art is particularly relevant today’ in the SORA Bulletin (August 1947). He conducted painting classes at SORA’s rooms, 214 George Street, with Roy Dalgarno ( Bulletin October 1948). At Rod Shaw 's urging, he and Penglase moved to remote Eleanora Heights, purchasing land and a workable shack for £200.

In the early 1950s Hedstrom joined Frank Packer’s Australian Consolidated Press as one of eight or more artists in the stable employed to illustrate syndicated stories. He worked with Charles Thompson and Frank (Francis) Broadhurst and they shared a floor with Miss Maynard, the Cookery Expert. Most of his drawings were done for the Australian Women’s Weekly and A.M. ( Australia Magazine ), eg. a cover for the latter of 4 January 1955, an Ozzie surfer/good life subject. Occasionally he drew for the Sunday Telegraph (c.1951), and later he resumed drawing for Murray’s Pocket Man , e.g. March 1956.

Illustrators were paid a weekly salary and had no right to refuse the syndicated (usually American) story they were assigned. Some subversive parody crept into the creative process, however, as can be seen in Hedstrom’s folio, 'Album No 4, Story Illustration, Photos used for artist’s reference for commercial illustration’. Here Tony, Marjory and their three children, friends and often journalist colleagues pose for scandalous or sensationalist tableaux for photographer Gordon Bowman – images Hedstrom then used for his illustrations. (Hedstrom also did a lot of his own photography.) According to Hedstrom, the illustrator’s golden days were ended by television. After Frank Packer laid off many, a number moved to TV productions or, like Hedstrom, to the growing Public Service. He worked for the NSW Water Conservation and Resource Commission as a display artist until he retired in 1972.

In 1976 Hedstrom and Penglase travelled and sketched in the UK, Italy and Greece; they revisited Greece in 1982-83. Otherwise they lived on Sydney’s northern beaches peninsula region, depicted in a splendid acrylic self-portrait with Marjory, Autumn Portrait 1987 (Tweed River Regional Art Gallery). The painting starred in Newton Hedstrom: a retrospective at Manly Art Gallery, 8 December 2000- 14 January 2001. By then Penglase had died, but Hedstrom was still painting.

Writers:

Holder, Jo

Date written:

1996

Last updated:

2007