Angry Penguins

Angry Penguins, an Australian literary and artistic avant-garde movement of the 1940s, stimulated by a modernist magazine of the same name published by the surrealist poet Max Harris. While the magazine first appeared in the city of Adelaide, the subsequent radical modernist movement, which took for itself the name "Angry Penguins", was based largely in Melbourne. The name itself was derived from the cryptic line "the angry penguins of the night" in a poem by Harris ("Mithridatum of Despair").

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.