Nora Heysen, (11 January 1911 – 30 December 2003) was an Australian artist, the first woman to win the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

in 1938 for portraiture and the first Australian woman appointed as an official

war artist A war artist is an artist either commissioned by a government or publication, or self-motivated, to document first-hand experience of war in any form of illustrative or depictive record.Imperial War Museum (IWM)header phrase, "war shapes lives" ...

Early years

Heysen was born in

Hahndorf, South Australia Hahndorf is a small town in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. Currently an important tourism spot, it has previously been a centre for farming and services. History The town was settled by Lutheran migrants largely from and around ...

, as the fourth child of landscape painter (later Sir) Hans Heysen and his wife Selma Heysen (née Bartels), and was raised at ''The Cedars'' in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. She studied art from 1926 to 1930 at the School of Fine Arts in Adelaide under F. Millward Grey and sold paintings to the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

and the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1930. From 1930 to 1933, she continued to study two days a week at the school, and worked in her own studio the rest of the time. In 1931 she visited Sydney with her parents, and spent two weeks studying at the

Julian Ashton Art School The Julian Ashton Art School was established by Julian Ashton in 1890 as the "Academy Julian", (perhaps a reference to the Académie Julian in Paris) has been an influential art school in Australia. For a long time it was known as the Sydney Art ...

Early career

Heysen's first solo exhibition was held in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1933. In 1934 she traveled to London with her family, remaining in Europe after they returned home, until 1937 studying and painting. When she returned to Australia she returned briefly to Adelaide and then moved to Sydney.

Archibald Prize

In 1938, Heysen entered two portraits in the

. Her portrait of Madame Elink Schuurman was awarded the prize and she became the first woman to win the Archibald. There was a controversy involving criticism of her win by painter

Max Meldrum Duncan Max Meldrum (3 December 1875 – 6 June 1955) was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism, a representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwa ...

War artist

On 12 October 1943, Heysen became the first woman to be appointed as an Australian war artist, being granted the honorary rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. As Heysen said in a later interview about her role: "I was commissioned to depict the women's war effort. There was that restriction on what I did. So I was lent around to all the services, the air force, the navy and the army, to depict the women working at everything they did during the war". During her service Heysen completed over 170 works of art and was discharged from service in 1946 in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

Family life

Following her discharge from war service, Heysen went to London and later returned to Sydney in 1948. While in New Guinea, she met Dr. Robert Black, whom she married in 1953. She continued to paint, exhibit and travel with her husband. Her marriage ended in 1972.

Reception

A 1939 article in ''

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known simply as ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Are Media in Sydney and founded in 1933. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before bein ...

'' ran with the headline "Girl Painter Who Won Art Prize is also Good Cook", and lists three of Heysen's favourite recipes along with her strategies for achieving domestic duties and leaving time for painting. Heysen's works are currently held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, war museum, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, Australian Capital Territory, C ...

, the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

, the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

and several state galleries. A major retrospective exhibition of the work of daughter and father, ''Hans and Nora Heysen: Two Generations of Australian Art'', was curated by the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

and displayed from March–July 2019. Reviewing it, ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'' critic John McDonald described Nora's career as a "fractured, stop-start affair",John McDonald, ''The Parent Trap; Illuminating the art and relationship of Hans and Nora Heysen'', Sydney Morning Herald March 30–31, 2019, Spectrum p.10 but that in a "popular rethinking of the Heysen's place in local art history ... Nora's star has risen while her father's has declined". McDonald nominated as Nora's signature work her "breathtaking still life, ''Eggs'' (1927)" from the Hinton collection in the New England Regional Art Museum,John McDonald, ''The Parent Trap; Illuminating the art and relationship of Hans and Nora Heysen'', Sydney Morning Herald March 30–31, 2019, Spectrum p.11 and described her ''Still Life'' of quinces (1933) from the same collection as "painted with the precision of an old master".

Awards

In 1993 Heysen was awarded the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

's Award for Achievement in the Arts and on 26 January 1998 she was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for her service to art. *1933: Melrose Prize for Portraiture *1938:

for her portrait of Adine Michele Elink Schuurman *1993:

Award for Achievement in the Arts *1998:

*2001: Victorian Honour Roll of Women