Hans Heysen found his greatest landscape inspirations in South Australia's Flinders Ranges from the 1920s.
Image courtesy National Gallery of Victoria.
ARTISTS
WILLIAM LIGHT PAINTS EARLY STROKES
of South Australia's prolific image making
by Heysens, Jeffrey Smart, Dorrit Black,
Barbara Hanrahan, Robert Hannaford et al
ADELAIDE CITY'S FOUNDER WILLIAM LIGHT, a prolific sketcher and watercolourist, wove the first stitches of a rich tapestry of South Australian artistic image making.
Hans Heysen and Jeffrey Smart made the most impact internationally but a rich seam of South Australian women painters – Bessie Davidson, Nora Heysen, Dorrit Black, Stella Bowen through to Barbara Hanrahan – ventured overseas to broaden their contributions to art movements. Black was a pioneer of Australian modernism. Nora Heysen was the first woman to win the prestigious Archibald portrait prize in 1938 and the first Australian woman appointed an official war artist.
Nora’s father Hans was part of a South Australian phenomenon of the German heritage settlers who deeply embraced the deep essence of Australia: its ancient nature and Aboriginal tradition. After another of his daughters, Lilian, died in 1925, Heysen searched for a landscape to revive his feelings for nature. He found it in the Flinders Ranges where he produced some of his finest paintings, winning the Wynne Prize for landscapes a record nine times.
Adelaide fed the first 30 years of life influences on Jeff (later Jeffrey) Smart, known for his precisionist urban landscapes “full of jokes and private allusions”. Smart started drawing in Adelaide at an early age. Educated at Pulteney Grammar and Unley High schools, he originally wanted to become an architect but taught art after studying at the Adelaide Teachers College and the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts 1937–1941.
In the early 1940s, he accompanied local maritime artist John Giles in painting Port Adelaide industrial landscapes – a lasting theme of Smart’s images.
TWO SISTERS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA LEAD AUSTRALIA AS 19th CENTURY PROFESSIONAL FEMALE ARTISTS
THERESA WALKER, MARTHA BERKELEY AMONG FIRST ARTISTS
with J.M. Skipper, William Light, G.F. Angas, Alexander Schramm
TRADITIONAL MALE EUROPEAN PAINTING PREDOMINANT IN ADELAIDE
JAMES SHAW AMONG RECORDERS OF LATER 19th CENTURY LIFE
with W.A. Cawthorne exceptionally highlighting Aboriginal culture
FROM CHARLES HILL'S SCHOOL OF ART IN PULTENEY STREET, ADELAIDE, In 1856
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF DESIGN FOUNDED IN 1861,
attracting H. P. Gill among influx of British artistic talent to run it
19th CENTURY TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCES NEW BREED OF ARTISTIC IMAGE MAKERS TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA
TOWNSEND DURYEA, HENRY JONES AND SAMUEL WHITE SWEET,
with Ernest Gall, Alfred Stump, William Hammer bring photo to art
ANN-MARIE BENHAM, IDA DARLING, ROSA FIVEASH ADELAIDE WOMEN ARTISTS MAKING FIRST IMPRESSIONS
MARGARET PRESTON AND GLADYS REYNELL LURED TO EUROPE;
Bessie Davidson stays in France but Marie Tuck is unable to return
AN EARLY 20th CENTURY TRANSITION IN ART STYLES
MOVES BEYOND HANS HEYSEN BRILLIANT TRADITIONAL STYLE
by daughter Nora and Kathleen Sauerbier within German heritage
EMPHASIS ON DRAUGHTING SKILLS THE BACKBONE OF ALL ADELAIDE ART FORMS IN EARLY 20th CENTURY
DORRIT BLACK BRINGS MODERNISM & CUBISM TO AUSTRALIA,
before Adelaide group stages breakaway modernist show in 1942
ADDING TO THE MIXED CROSSOVER TAPESTRY OF ADELAIDE ART
JEFFREY SMART, BARBARA HANRAHAN DRAWING ON ADELAIDE
influences in the work; David Dallwitz following world of influences
POST WORLD WAR II EUROPEAN INFLUENCE ON ADELAIDE ART
Stan Ostoja-Kotowski, Dusan Marek, Vytas Selenis across media
DESIGN, TECHNOLOGY, POLITICS ADD TO THE ARTISTIC COMPONENTS IN THE 1960s/70s.
ANN NEWMARCH, DAVID DRIDAN, ROBERT HANNAFORD IN MIX
of varying emerging art influence on Adelaide's life and awareness
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN LIFE CAPTURED IN CARICATURE/CARTOON
through everyday satirical artistic filter of newspapers, magazines
MAKING BIG AND BOLD STATEMENTS INTO 1980s AND BEYOND
in a crossover of styles and media – inside and outside the galleries
IN THE WAKE OF HAROLD THOMAS AND JOHN MORIATY FLYING THE FLAG
