Lot 52

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The National Australia Bank Art Collection

Five decades on since his death in the late 1960's, Hans Heysen's status remains unchallenged as one of the nation's most skilled and celebrated exponents of the art of watercolour painting.

As an artist he was to change the course of twentieth century Australian painting and transformed the way his fellow countrymen viewed their own antipodean landscape. No other Australian painter has been able to match Heysen's expertise in the capture of the most remarkable atmosphere effects achieved by colour and brush on paper. His love of the natural world, 'Dame Nature' as he so frequently described it, stamped his work with a unique sincerity and honesty. Indeed Heysen's art was vital to his existence and his mission was to capture on paper and canvas the beauty of nature in all its seasonal nuances.

His subject was intimately Australian, the result of a dedication to and understanding of the landscape masterfully delivered by the great technical skills of his drawing and draughtsmanship. His recognition of the Australian eucalypt as objects of great beauty resulted in his name being synonymous with the depiction of the native gum trees in all their varieties of form. He believed the gum presented itself as one of the most unique of all trees in existence due to the diversity of structure, foliage and colourings of the bark.

And yet Heysen initially had strong grounding in European academic tutoring and a dedicated ongoing art education. His early training in Adelaide in the 1890's was followed by an intense study period of three years in France at various Parisian Academies including the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts and a fourth year on a private study tour of the well known galleries of Italy, particularly of Florence, Venice and Rome. He became a great admirer of the landscapes of Claude Lorrain and John Constable and developed a deep and respectful appreciation for the work of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Heysen was also to pay continued respect to the Barbizon School of France and in particular Jean-Francois Millet which resulted in his own focus and devotion to a lifelong recording and celebration of our own Australian rural life and the toil of man in pastoral and agricultural pursuits. Heysen was therefore to focus on a unique recording of a regional way of life in Australia, particularly in the Adelaide Hills and environs as no other artist has ever achieved.

He depicts here the drover and his faithful dog, guiding the flock to their destination with the surrounding countryside bathed in the most wonderful light and atmosphere. His dedication as to the visual capture of this landscape subject demands to be recorded, interpreted and celebrated as an integral part of our nation's history. Possibly his finest depiction of this favoured subject is 'Droving into the light' (1914-21) in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, now recognised as one of our greatest federation pictures.

In Travelling Sheep and Gums we see Heysen nearing his mid-seventies and painting still with complete control of brush on paper. He was indeed a beautiful colourist as witnessed by the continuation and success of these light filled landscapes.

He was a rare artist who, after achieving recognition and financial success quite early in his adult life went on to maintain prominent artistic status throughout the next six decades - his final work was completed in his 90th year, an accomplished watercolour, Droving, Charleston 1968. Hans Heysen still retains the record of nine times winner of the prestigious Wynne Prize for landscape.

To this day he remains one of our country's most popular and best loved painters in acknowledgement of his significant contribution to Australian art. As one of the first non-indigenous artists to engage deeply with the Australian landscape he was hugely influential in allowing Australians to gain a more astute perspective and appreciation for the unique beauty and diversity of their own country.

Allan Campbell
Curator of the Heysen Collections
The Cedars, Hahndorf