Nora Heysen (1911-2003)

An artist of extraordinary ability and tenacity, Nora Heysen is best known through her exquisite still life paintings and absorbing portraits. Born in Hahndorf, South Australia, she was the fourth of celebrated painter Hans Heysen's eight children. After several years of study in Adelaide she travelled to London where she attended classes at the Central School of Art, and absorbed the art of her favourite painters: Vermeer and Piero della Francesca. Her early drawings and paintings established her talent as a draughtsman, however, it was not until her meeting in London with post-impressionist painter Lucien Pisarro and subsequent study of the work of Cézanne, that her smooth, classical manner of painting gave way to a freer use of colour and more painterly handling of her materials. As the first female artist to be awarded the Archibald Prize in 1938 her skill as a portraitist also paved the way for her appointment as an official war artist in 1943. Until her death in 2003, the artist lived and worked in her Hunter's Hill home 'The Chalet', where she painted and drew with boundless energy and an amazing vitality of colour. She was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) in 1998. NW

click here for Nora Heysen's biography

Sources:
Lou Klepac Nora Heysen The Beagle Press, Sydney 1989
Lou Klepac Nora Heysen National Library of Australia, Canberra 2000
Barry Pearce‘In 1938, the first woman to win the Archibald Prize’ Sydney Morning Herald, 14 January 2004

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