Hans Heysen was a German-born Australian artist. He became a household name for his watercolours of monumental Australian gum trees. Heysen also produced images of men and animals toiling in the Australian bush, as well as groundbreaking depictions of arid landscapes in the Flinders Ranges.
Background
Wilhelm Ernst Hans Franz Heysen was born on October 8, 1877 in Hamburg, Germany, sixth child of Louis Heinrich Wilhelm Heysen and his wife Maria Elisabeth Henriette, née Eberhard. Louis migrated to South Australia in 1883 and his wife followed with the five surviving children next year. His father moved from one unsuccessful enterprise to another until he established himself as a produce merchant.
Education
From 1885 Hans attended the East Adelaide Model and four other schools in Adelaide, acquiring a bilingual education and giving early indications of artistic skill. Heysen left school in 1892, working first in a hardware store and then on one of his father's produce carts. At 14 he bought his first paints.
Hans's growing interest in painting and drawing led to enrolment in James Ashton's Norwood Art School. He quickly achieved distinction.
Career
At 16 he was painting so well that Ashton bought his water-colour 'The Wet Road'. It eventually found its way into the Art Gallery of South Australia. During five years his work was exhibited regularly in Adelaide. From an early age he developed a deep love of the Adelaide Hills, tramping about with his paintbox and stool whenever he could. One of his favourite spots was the Onkaparinga Valley near the villages of Hahndorf and Grunthal, and many of his early pictures came from this area.
He was fortunate in his patrons. Robert Barr Smith paid the fees for twelve months at the school of design at the Art Gallery of South Australia under Harry Gill and in 1899 four prominent businessmen offered Heysen an astonishing legal contract in which they agreed to advance £400 to finance his studies in Europe in return for the right to recoup their outlay by selling whatever he might paint while abroad. Heysen accepted the offer eagerly.
For four years he worked hard in Europe—first in Paris at the Académie Julian and Colarossi's Academy under various masters including Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant and at the Académie des Beaux Arts and later in Italy. There were also summer painting excursions to Holland and Scotland, and a hasty visit to Germany. He returned to Adelaide in 1903. He later reported that the impact of Australian light as he sailed up St Vincent's Gulf was like a slap in the face, profoundly affecting his attitude and vision. Almost at once he turned his back on Europe and concentrated on Australian landscape.
Heysen continued to earn his living by teaching and painting. He sold pictures to the State galleries in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and to private buyers, but his one-man shows in Adelaide were failures and he still had to teach to eke out an income. Finally some of his friends, particularly Emanuel Phillips Fox, arranged a one-man exhibition in Melbourne. It was opened by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin on 8 August 1908 and was a phenomenal success. Encouraged by his wife, Heysen decided to give up teaching and rent a cottage in the hills. On 11 November he left Adelaide forever.
The success of the Melbourne exhibition brought commissions from prominent patrons such as (Dame) Nellie Melba and Victoria's governor. There was also increasing publicity and appreciation from critics and collectors such as (Sir) Lionel Lindsay and (Sir) Baldwin Spencer. A second Melbourne exhibition in 1912 enabled him to buy The Cedars, set in thirty-six acres (15 ha) of the Hahndorf country-side. He lived there for the rest of his life, recording the essence of the landscape and the labours of the German farmers in the fields.
From now on Heysen was envied for the peace and freedom of his country life. His newly built studio, standing among trees on the slope above the house, was idyllic in its setting, and a large family of growing children made for a busy, happy household which the passions of World War I did not entirely cloud.
Heysen was fortunate in being able to mount a third successful Melbourne exhibition before the war intensified. It was opened by Melba on 4 March 1915 and sales were again outstanding. Seven weeks later came Gallipoli, and Heysen and his family, along with other German-born citizens, were soon being subjected to suspicion and insult.
In 1918 he wrote to Elioth Gruner of the war's 'constant prey on one's mind'.
After the war Heysen's exhibitions took up where they had left off. Show after show was phenomenally successful. This, together with frequent press notices, articles by Lionel Lindsay, and publications with fine colour reproductions by Sydney Ure Smith, made Heysen's name a household word. Although gum-trees and pastoral landscapes were still his favourite subjects, he now also painted large numbers of still life studies.
In 1926 he went to the Flinders Ranges for the first time and later made many visits which produced a torrent of sketches and water-colours, chiefly from the Aroona and Arkaba areas. Some of these were completed on site but most were brought back to be worked on in the studio. Heysen, now 50, was physically vigorous and welcomed long hard days in the field. His artistic output was enormous.
In 1934 he went to Europe and on his return settled down as a kind of elder statesman in the world of Australian art. He assisted aspiring young artists unstintingly and gave long service as a board-member of the National Gallery of South Australia. He continued to sketch and paint, holding periodic exhibitions and contributing generously to appeals and group shows. This was particularly so during World War II which passed with much less bitterness than the first, even though soldiers were billeted at The Cedars for a time.
He worked on steadily, ultimately leaving a vast legacy of thousands of sketches and charcoal drawings to the State gallery. He died in the Mount Barker Soldiers' Memorial Hospital on July 2, 1968 at 90. He was buried in Hahndorf cemetery. Heysen's estate was sworn for probate at $195,882.
Heysen was a conservationist far ahead of his time. He fought to preserve the flora of the Adelaide Hills—particularly the great red gums and white gums—and repeatedly warned of the dangers of destroying the natural environment. He also recorded the human activities of the region in great detail. In this he has been compared with the Barbizon painters of France for his deep understanding of simple labour in the fields. No other Australian artist has preserved a regional way of life so fully and faithfully. He was not a religious man, but he had a pantheistic reverence for Nature.
Quotations:
"There is an infinity of landscape here, caused by the purity of the atmosphere. It has been said that there is a lack of colour. It is not so obvious as the greenness of England, but it is infinitely more varied and more delicate in tone. The landscape is a pinky mauve, a lilac, and the reflection of the sun of the particles of the atmosphere is a warm amber. So I should say our colour scheme is amber and lilac."
"The design of the gum is expressed in the flow of it trunk and limbs, and the design of the European tree mainly in its foliage. In Europe great masses of foliage first attract the eye, here the limbs and trunk, which, on account of their proportion and colour, make themselves felt first, and one thinks of the foliage as a secondary matter."
Personality
Ironically he was a quiet, gentle man who loved Australia and who was deeply opposed to war and violence.
Physical Characteristics:
Heysen was a small, thin, unostentatious man whose blue-grey eyes peered through horn-rimmed spectacles. In old age he was almost bald and usually dressed in polo-necked sweater, knickerbockers and socks to the knee.
Connections
Heysen married Selma Bartels on December 15, 1904. They had five daughters, three sons and one adopted daughter in the family. Their daughter Nora Heysen was also a successful artist.
Father:
Louis Heinrich Wilhelm Heysen
Mother:
Maria Elisabeth Henriette
Spouse:
Selma Bartels
Daughter:
Nora Heysen
References
Hans Heysen: Into the Light
Hans Heyson was an award-winning and critically acclaimed German-Australian artist, best-known for his striking watercolour images of the Australian landscape.