Hans Heysen
Sir Hans Heysen , OBE , (born October 8, 1877 in Hamburg , † July 2, 1968 ) was an Australian artist . He was particularly known for his watercolors of the Australian bush and won the Wynne Prize several times .
Life
Wilhelm Ernst Hans Franz Heysen was born in Hamburg, Germany. He emigrated with his family to Adelaide , South Australia , in 1884 at the age of six . There he became interested in art at a young age. Since the father could not find permanent employment, Heysen attended various schools between 1885 and 1892 and helped the father with his work. During the school holidays he was able to visit friends in Hahndorf . At the age of 14 he left school, worked for an ironmonger for five shillings a week, and at the age of 16 began studying art at the art academy in his spare time.
In 1899 he was able to win a prize advertised by Sir James Linton for watercolor painting and an award for a charcoal drawing. At the age of 22, four businessmen paid him to study in Europe on the condition that he assured them of the pictures that were taken there. From 1900 to 1903 he studied in Europe, mostly in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts , but also in Italy . After his return, he first settled in Adelaide, opened an art school and devoted himself entirely to painting. In 1904 Heysen married his wife Selma and was able to win the Wynne Prize for the first time. In 1908 he moved with his family to Hahndorf in South Australia. In 1926 he traveled to the north of South Australia for the first time, where the rocky semi-desert region of Flinders Ranges was particularly attractive to him. There he found - like at the Brachina Gorge ( Guardian at Brachina Gorge , National Gallery of Victoria ) - always new motifs.
“The sun, its light and its warmth is my religion. (...) I have to admit that I succumbed to their [note: the desert] magic. I have experienced the desert of crystal clarity on quiet days, when the eye can receive the wonderful feeling of infinity. [For the painter it is] a new, so far almost untouched field. "
In 1912 Heysen bought a property in the Adelaide Hills near Hahndorf, where he lived until 1968 and died at the age of 90.
He was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1945 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1959 . Australia's longest long-distance hiking trail, the 1200 km Heysen Trail, is named after him, as is the Heysen Range, a mountain range in the Flinders Range National Park .
His daughter Nora Heysen (1911–2003) is also regarded as a more important Australian artist.
plant
Heysen was best known for his depictions of Australian landscapes and is now considered one of the most important and well-known Australian artists.
Heysen's works are now in the National Gallery of Victoria , ( Guardian of the Brachina Gorge , watercolor from 1937; A lord of the bush , oil , 1908), in the National Library of Australia ( Brachina Gorge , watercolor; Old man Collins , Drawing ; Study of Nora Heysen as a child , drawing, charcoal on paper; Study of Nora Heysen as a child , pencil drawing) and the Royal British Collection in London ( Brachina Gorge , 1933).
The Wynne Prize
Heysen won the Wynne Prize nine times. The following were awarded:
- 1904 - Mystic Morn
- 1909 - Summer (watercolor)
- 1911 - Hauling Timber
- 1920 - Toilers (watercolor)
- 1922 - The Quarry (watercolor)
- 1924 - Afternoon in Autumn (watercolor)
- 1926 - Farmyard, Frosty Morning
- 1931 - Red Gums of the Far North (watercolor)
- 1932 - Brachina Gorge
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Heysen, Hans |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Heysen, Sir Hans (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 8, 1877 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd July 1968 |