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HEYSEN INSPIRED BY NATURE Nancy Robinson Flannery recalls one of the nation’s foremost pastoral artists—his abiding love of trees, and his championing of conservation
As an octogenarian, an eminently successful artist with a prodigious wealth of creativity and prizes behind him, Heysen hadn’t lost the wonder of nature when he spoke to de Berg. He still lived at The Cedars near Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills, a property he’d bought in 1912 and developed to accommodate the needs of his growing family and his dedication to art. In addition to the many books and papers by and about him, and a small cache of his artwork, the National Library holds a large collection of Heysen Papers (MS 5073), donated by the artist’s eldest son David in 1975. This includes a correspondence series 1904–1968 containing letters from no less than 1487 different people. One of the most prolific of these correspondents was Sydneysider Lionel Lindsay, a close friend and fellow artist for the greater part of the two men’s lives. The Latrobe Library, Melbourne, holds another large collection of letters, in this instance the mirror image—from Heysen to Lindsay (MS 9242). The prevailing theme of this correspondence is the love of Nature—always in upper case when in Heysen’s hand, a reflection of his near worship of what his eyes saw, his intellect noted and memorised, and his hands portrayed. ‘The sun is low and casts deeper and longer shadows, giving a greater feeling of bulk and weight to all in Nature. The Red Gums are particularly fine, and since you were here I have made many more studies of them.’
In 1939,
Heysen wrote ‘A Plea for Our Remaining Gums’ for a small publication by
my late father, Cedric Noon. In it Heysen expresses a love for the ‘serenity
and beauty of the Onkaparinga
The National Library holds a signed print from a wood engraving designed by Sir Lionel Lindsay (1874–1961) as a bookplate for Heysen. Depicting a somewhat grotesque representation of a large-trunked tree, the design shocked the recipient, for into the trunk was carved HANS HEYSEN in large block letters. As this mutilation of a tree seemed sacrilegious to Hans, the bookplate gift was an embarrassment. In order not to offend so close a friend, however, Lionel’s bookplate was used on a few volumes (still held at The Cedars); and so the uncharacteristic Lindsay environmental faux pas was passed over without causing a rift between the two artists.
Although
the majestic gums of the Adelaide Hills and the Flinders Hans Heysen
was born in Germany and migrated to
Under the Heysens’ loving care and devotion, The Cedars became not only a gracious yet unpretentious home for their talented family but also a Mecca for artists and celebrities. The hospitality extended to people such as the singer Dame Nellie Melba (a loyal supporter of Heysen’s output) and dancer Anna Pavlova. With much of their own food produced in garden, farmyard and kitchen, life at The Cedars reflected the Heysen family’s love of nature and their doctrine of culture and simplicity. In 1912–13 my uncle, Will Pain (known fondly to me as Nunkie), built an architect-designed chalet-style studio on a gentle hill slope a little apart from the homestead and its gardens. And later, the stables were converted to a second studio for Nora, fourth daughter of Hans and Sallie, who became one of Australia’s finest portrait and flower painters, a war artist, the first woman to win the Archibald Prize, and a recent benefactor of the National Library. In his biography, Heysen of Hahndorf, Colin Thiele describes Nora as having ‘the same indefatigable industry as her father’. The Canberra
suburb of Weston has
Here, lovers of art and nature can recapture the lifestyle and vigorous spirit of this historic piece of Australia. The home, the studios, and the garden are open to visitors six days of the week. It’s a step back in time and an emotional experience to see the main studio just as the artist left it (an unfinished landscape on the easel in the mellow studio), the warm and friendly house filled with flowers, paintings, books and art journals just as I recall it as a guest 60 years ago, the whole complex conserved and adapted as Sir Hans and Lady Heysen would have wanted. Images of and brochures on The Cedars are amongst recent additions to the Library’s Heysen Papers. National, state, regional and overseas galleries and libraries hold many of Heysen’s paintings and drawings, as do private collectors. The Art Gallery of South Australia, alone, is custodian of more than 2000 Heysen works. While there was a period in the history of Australian art when his landscapes tended to go out of fashion, there is now renewed appreciation of the veracity, charm and sheer craftsmanship of his work. In Our Country: Australian Federation Landscapes 1900–1914, Ron Radford, the newly appointed Director of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, wrote of ‘the status the monumental gum was to assume. In these paintings by Heysen the gum tree became truly triumphant. Henceforth in Australian art, it would be impossible to paint the gum tree without Heysen’s symbolic use resonating in memory’. At The Cedars, an Artist’s Walk around the 53.5 hectare property signposts scenes depicted by Heysen in some of his best loved works. But as the remaining vegetation has been under threat from virulent, non-indigenous species, concerted efforts have been made to restore the balance. Under the auspices of Landcare Australia around 5500 trees, raised from seeds of local native trees and shrubs, have been planted on the property in recent years, and the project continues. December 2004 marks the centenary of the marriage of Hans Heysen and Sallie Bartels, a partnership of nearly 60 years which gave mutual support, comradeship, and pleasure in the simple aspects of country life. To celebrate this centenary, Sallie’s wedding gown is coming out of its tissue paper for display at The Cedars. NANCY ROBINSON FLANNERY is an Adelaide writer and researcher, whose papers are held by the National Library. She can be contacted at ifnf@acslink.net.au |
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