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Nora Heysen 25 October - 28 January 2001 Exhibition Gallery One memory of childhood is always wanting to draw or paint. This is my earliest memory and will be my last, I think, that I must put something on paper or canvas or whatever within reach. From an interview with Nora Heysen, 25 August 1994. Oral History Collection. The Cedars 1911-1933 I was one of a large family, eight children, and we all used to settle down in fathers studio and lie on our tummies and draw how we must have annoyed him, I hate to think now, always asking for more paint or Is this all right? or Is that all right? From an interview with Nora Heysen, 8 November 1965 Oral History Collection Still Life with Onions
1927 I remember painting eggs at one time because Lambert had painted one egg and everyone was trying to do eggs. I thought Id paint a whole bowl of eggs, not just one egg but Id do a whole lot of eggs. From an interview with Nora Heysen, 8 November 1965 Oral History Collection Eggs 1927 I like painting flowers directI like to gather a bunch in my hand in the garden, and put them in a container in a setting which enhances them, and paint direct, to get the whole feeling of the bunch in the round. From an interview with Nora Heysen 8 November 1965 Oral History Collection A Bunch of Flowers was painted when Heysen was seventeen as a gift for her mother. A Bunch of Flowers
1930 Nora had a strong sense of discipline instilled in her from early childhood. Her daily routine began with milking the cows before walking two kilometres to the train station for the hour-long trip to Adelaide. She then had to walk to the School of Fine Arts in North Adelaide where she studied. After working all day on her studies, she had to make the trip home in time to milk the cows. I can remember in my childhood I used to milk cows before I went down to the art school each day and when I got home at night. My father was all in favour of this because he said, If youre going to be an artist you need to be healthy and physically fit, and how true he was. From an interview with Nora Heysen, 8 November 1965 Oral History Collection Unknown
photographer Woggheeguy was published in 1930, a book of stories based on Aboriginal legends. The author, Catherine Stow, commissioned Heysen to do the twenty-three black and white illustrations for the stories. These illustrations were done in a silhouette form reminiscent of woodcuts. The animals in the images were drawn after hours of meticulous study at the Adelaide Zoo. Illustration for Yaraandoo the
Southern Cross from the book Woggheeguy: Australian Aboriginal
Legends 1930 Illustration for
Borah the Kangaroo (Aborigines Dancing) from the book Woggheeguy: Heysen exhibited Self Portrait in the Sydney Society of Arts show. It was bought by Howard Hinton and donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. At twenty-one, Heysen made a bold statement about her vocation. There are deliberate references to the Dutch Old Masters. She remembers moving Vermeers The Painters Studio c.1666 so that it formed part of the composition. She has balanced this work by including another less identifiable seventeenth-century work. The blue smock which she was to use for many years is draped over the back of her chair. Self
Portrait 1932 Harold Cazneaux (18781953) Harold Cazneaux (18781953) Summer
Flowers 1933 A Portrait
Study (Self
Portrait) 1933 Heysen commenced work on a series of portraits of a young woman from the local village. Heysen named her Ruth for the portraits, in direct reference to the biblical character. It seems appropriate that Mother should own that first painting of Ruth as she was instrumental in my getting her as a model. When I look back upon those quiet days in the studio with Ronda [Ruth] patiently or serenely posing and with refreshments brought to us, the more I appreciate the atmosphere (for want of a better word) that made painting like that possible and realise that I have never since found a like set of circumstances. Extract; Nora Heysens letter to her father, 2 December 1953 A Portrait
StudyRuth 1933 Still
Life 1933 In the early 1930s, Nora moved into her own studio. It was converted from the old stables at The Cedars. I think it was at 15 I went to the art school, and it was during that time that I used to work at home during the weekends, and I sold my first picture, and that enabled me to convert the old stables at home into a studio so I had a place of my own to work and I got out of fathers hair. I always used to paint in his studio before that. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Unknown photographer Unknown
photographer When I was about 20, I held my first exhibition, because naturally like all art students, I wanted to go abroad and study abroad. From an interview with Nora Heysen, 8 November 1965 Oral History Collection Self
Portrait 1934 Unknown
photographer Unknown
photographer Interior 1935 Nora Heysen and Everton Stokes (later Shaw) rented Rempstone Farm in Dorset in 1935. From a Cottage Garden was painted during her stay. It shows a brighter palette and the more vigorous brushstrokes of the Post-Impressionists. From a Cottage
Garden 1935 The arrival of Everton Shaw in London in December 1934 made an enormous difference to Heysens world. Everton Shaw (Evie) had been her closest friend in Adelaide. Having a companion and close friend with whom to share discussions on art, visits to galleries and sketching trips to Kew lifted Heysens spirits and work rate. The joy and contentment of the two young artists is reflected in a letter home: we get up at 7.30 and have breakfast by the fire then start work at 9 with only a short break for lunch at 2 oclock till we stop when the light goes at about half past 5 then a little rest by the fire then dinner to buy and cook and eat and by then the day has gone and I feel too tired to think of anything but bed. Extract; Hans Heysen papers MS 5073, Folder 146, 14 February 1935 Portrait of Evie
1935 Portrait of Everton
(Evie) 1936 I knew much more about the artists of Sydney and what was happening I thought Sydney would suit me much better [than Melbourne]. There was much more life in Sydney. From an interview with Nora Heysen, 25 August 1994 Oral History Collection I dont feel things decoratively; I dont feel that theyre flat. I feel that theres light and air surrounding everything and that is how I like to portray it. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Spring Light
c.1938 Self
Portrait 1938 Corn Cobs, along with her works around the same time, show strong Post-Impressionist qualities. This influence could be in part attributed to her studies in Europe and her contact with many works by Post-Impressionist artists. Heysen had particularly admired Van Goghs work in Paris when she had seen it the previous year. Heysen exhibited Corn Cobs in the first exhibition of the Australian Academy of Art in 1938. The Academy was designed to be a unifying, national body to support Australian artists. Corn Cobs
1938 I wasnt a social bird ever. I was only interested in the contact, painting contact. No, Ive never had an interest in the social life. But they say you should have if you want to paint portraits for thats where your commissions are. But no, I had to be interested in the person I was painting and it was more likely they were attached to the art world for me to get that interest. So I painted Lionel Lindsay and Adrian Feint at that time and a few others because I had to support myself. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Adrian Feint
1940 From the Kitchen Window, The
Cedars c.1940 Merrie at Six Months
1941 Motherhood had a very conscious reference to the Renaissance both in palette and composition. This was so blatant that Heysen came to refer to this and another work, Dedication as her Murray Madonnas. Heysen won the Melrose Prize for portraiture for the second time with Motherhood in 1941. With portraiture too, I like to draw direct from lifeeven if I am not actually looking at the sitter I like to feel the presence of the sitter, probably because it gives me confidence. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Motherhood 1941 The
Lovebirds 1942 You could only do one skim of paint. You couldnt cope with a heavily painted canvass travelling around in jeeps. The conditions were tough and your paintings almost went mildew overnight up in that climate. From an interview with Nora Heysen, 25 August 1994 Oral History Collection AAMWS (Private Gwynneth
Patterson)
1944 I was commissioned to depict the womens war effort. There was that restriction on what I did. So I was lent around to all the services, the air force, the navy and the army, to depict the women working at everything they did during the war. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Sister Minnie Goldstein Working
in the Blood Bank, Alexishafen 1944 Captain Robert
Black
1944 Everyone told me about the colour in the tropics and there wasnt any colour. It was drab, altogether drab. You might see a hibiscus flower every now and again. But where was the colour? From an interview with Nora Heysen,
Cypher Officer (Section Officer
Jean Ewing) 1945 If I was going to do war subjects I wanted to be as near as I possibly could. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Theatre Sister
(Margaret Sullivan) 1945 I believe flowers have always had a fascination for me, because I can remember when I was a war artist right up in the steaming jungle of New Guinea, Id arranged myself a beautiful native bowl full of flowers and I was sitting down in the mess painting this when I had a signal to be moved down to Lae, and I ignored the signal, and the jeep came along to collect me to take me to the airport and I said, Go away, Im in the middle of painting flowers! and I continued with my flowers, and got into hot water over this. The signals flew from New Guinea to Melbourne and back, and I was still painting my flowers refusing to budge. From an interview with Nora Heysen, When I waved them goodbye and said I couldnt possibly go, all hell broke loose. Id disobeyed orders. They were going to court-martial me and all the rest of it. Oh really, the fuss that was made out of all of that. Disobeying orders. You see, you werent allowed to do that. I was in the army. From an interview with Nora Heysen, I recall that picture and sticking it out, and I remember painting it on the mess table and I had to move every time a meal was bought forward it took me about four or five days to complete it, and Ive kept the canvas. I called it The Flower Ship, and thats one picture that didnt go to the Military History Section. I felt I deserved that one! From an interview with Nora Heysen, The Flower
Ship 1945 I wanted to do something for the war effort and I offered my services for making sandwiches down at Rushcutters Bay for the navy. I did that for a while but they complained that I put too much butter and filling on the sandwiches and I was dismissed from that. Then I thought, Well, what can I do to do something? It was in the wind then. Everyone was joining up and doing something for the war effort and all this and that. So I thought, Well, why not go as a war artist and do some drawings? From an interview with Nora Heysen, Unknown photographer Now I think Ive found my own environment The house itself is about 120 years old, in a very wandering wilderness of a garden where I can grow my own flowers for painting, and the atmosphere is peaceful and very conducive to my work. From an interview with Nora Heysen, 8 November 1965 Oral History Collection I fell in love with the place when I saw it. I thought, I could live here and I could paint here and it would be my setting Thats how it happened and Ive never regretted it. Ive made this my home and I never want to move and I feel happy here with my work. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Flowers in a Delft
Vase c.1946 Self
Portrait 1948 Robert Black was one of my subjects. He was a pathologist at that time. Well I got very interested in drawing him as a subject and gradually we fell in love. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Robert H. Black M
D c.1950 Portrait of Hans
Heysen 1952 Boy Dreaming 1957 I mustnt forget cats, the whole place is full of white cats which look beautiful, and Ive done several paintings of them. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Morning
Sun 1965 La
Coiffure 1981 Flowers 1981 Siesta 1982 Freesias 1985 Apples on a Chair
1987 This peaceful spot is not so remote that Im not all too sure of what is going on in the art world, and the disturbing trends. It is very hard to find what is true to oneself. There are all these new trends, and it is a very exciting experimental age to be working in, but after all ones own individual way of saying something is the important thing. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Peaches 1989 Light. Painting of light, and to get substance and light. I think the Impressionists sacrificed a lot of substance to light and their paintings got disintegrated. Then the Post-Impressionists brought back form, like Cézanne. It became rather too ephemeral. From an interview with Nora Heysen, Quinces 1991 |