Title

Self portrait

1932

Artist

Nora Heysen

Australia

11 Jan 1911 – 30 Dec 2003

Artist profile

Details

Date

1932

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas

Dimensions

76.2 x 61.2 cm stretcher; 96.0 x 81.0 x 6.8 cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.r. corner, red oil "NORA HEYSEN. 1932.".

Credit

Gift of Howard Hinton 1932

Location

South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries

Accession number

943

Copyright

© Lou Klepac
Reproduction requests

Artist information

Nora Heysen
Artist profile

Works in the collection

99

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About

I painted that self-portrait in my father’s studio – on the walls were several Vermeer prints. I greatly admired Vermeer’s works and wanted to paint like him – perhaps Vermeer and my father were my biggest influences in those days …

Nora Heysen, 1970s

Nora Heysen’s self-portrait strongly articulates her identity and ambition as a young artist, independent of her famous artist-father Hans Heysen. Characteristic of her 1930s’ paintings, 'Self portrait' is powerfully composed with precise, strongly defined forms and earthy colours recalling European masters of the early Renaissance. After undertaking study in Europe, Heysen established herself as a distinguished portrait and still-life painter. In 1938 she won the Archibald Prize, the first woman to have done so.
Exhibition history
Shown in 12 exhibitions
- Howard Hinton memorial exhibition (1948), National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Apr 1948–30 Apr 1948
- Artists by artists (1954), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Nov 1954–05 Dec 1954
- Australian women artists: one hundred years, 1840-1940, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Oct 1975–02 Nov 1975
- Seeing is believing - the art in photography, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Dec 1985–19 Jan 1986
- South Australian Women Artists: 1890s - 1940s, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 15 Apr 1994–17 Jul 1994
- All in the family, National Portrait Gallery [Old Parliament House], Canberra, 01 Oct 1994–08 Feb 1995
- Review: works by women from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 08 Mar 1995–04 Jun 1995
- Nora Heysen, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 25 Oct 2000–28 Jan 2001
- Nora Heysen: Light and life, Carrick Hill, Australia, 01 Apr 2009–28 Jun 2009
  
  Nora Heysen: Light and life, Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong, 11 Jul 2009–06 Sep 2009
  
  Nora Heysen: Light and life, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 14 Nov 2009–20 Dec 2009
  
  Nora Heysen: Light and life, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, 15 Jan 2010–14 Mar 2010
- Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011
  
  Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012
- Hans and Nora Heysen: Two Generations of Australian Art, Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, 08 Mar 2019–28 Jul 2019
- 20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
Bibliography
Referenced in 23 publications
- Michael Brand, Look, 'From the Gallery director', pg. 9, Sydney, Aug 2015, 9, 20 (colour illus.).
- Janine Burke, Australian women artists 1840-1940, Collingwood, 1980, 110 (illus.), 168-169. plate no. 32
- Ian Burn, National life and landscape - Australian painting 1900-1940, 'Reflections in private space', pg. 117-158 Chapter four, Sydney, 1990, 120, 121 (colour illus.). plate no. 87
- Deborah Edwards, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Classical allusions', pg. 135-136, Sydney, 2000, 135, 142 (colour illus.), 143, 300.
- R.H. Goddard, Lionel Lindsay and C.B. Newling, A memorial volume to Howard Hinton patron of art, Sydney, 1951, 130 (illus.).
- Jane Hylton, Nora Heysen: light and life, 'Natural talent and industry: Early years in Adelaide', pg. 12-21, Kent Town, 2009, 17, 18, 51 (colour illus.).
- Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 142 (colour illus.).
- Lou Klepac, National Library of Australia news, 'The Heysen legacy: the work of Nora Heysen', pg. 7-10, Canberra, Nov 2000, 22 (colour illus.).
- Lou Klepac, Nora Heysen, Sydney, 1989, 9, 26 (colour illus.), 78.
- Lou Klepac, Nora Heysen, 'Nora Heysen', pg. 1-6, Canberra, 2000, back cover (colour illus.), 18 (colour illus.), 50.
- Lionel Lindsay, Howard Hinton memorial exhibition, 'Howard Hinton, OBE', pg. 2-3, Sydney, 1948, 18. cat.no. 116
- Rosemary Lloyd, Yearbook of comparative and general literature [Vol. 49, 2001], 'Objects in the mirror: gendering the still life', pg. 39-55, Bloomington, 2002, 46, 52 (illus.).
- Alan McCulloch and Susan McCulloch, The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, St Leonards, 1994, 339 (illus.).
- Ewen McDonald, AGNSW Collections, 'From Colonialism to late Modernism', pg. 7-106, Sydney, 1994, 43 (colour illus.).
- Drusilla Modjeska, Look, 'Self-expression', Sydney, Jan 2017-Feb 2017, 57 (colour illus.).
- Barry Pearce, Look, 'The Lowy, Gonski Gallery', pg. 37, Sydney, Dec 2005-Jan 2006, 37.
- Ursula Prunster, Seeing is believing: the art in photography, 'The portrait and the photograph', Sydney, 1985. cat.no. 21; not paginated
- Sotheby's Australia, Sotheby's Sydney: Important Australian Art (31 August 2010), Melbourne, 2010, 52, 53 (colour illus.). RELATED WORK: cat.no. 23; titled 'Self portrait' 1932, 76 x 64cm, private collection. This work is illustrated on page 53.
- Catherine Speck (Editor), Heysen to Heysen: selected letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen, 'Introduction', pg. 1-19, Canberra, 2011, 2, 329.
- Catherine Speck, Heysen to Heysen: selected letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen, 'Introduction: on Nora Heysen', pg. 13-19, Adelaide, 2019, 14. A colour illustration appears on an unpaginated page in between pages 248 & 249.
- Jill Sykes (Editor), Look, Sydney, Oct 2007, 45 (colour illus.).
- Jill Sykes (Editor), Look, Sydney, Nov 2009, 48 (colour illus.). members events section hightlighting forthcoming 'Nora Heysen: Light and Art', S.H. Ervin Gallery.
- Alex Taylor, Perils of the studio: inside the artistic affairs of bohemian Melbourne, 'Surviving the interior', pg. 63-102, North Melbourne, 2007, 96, 100 (colour illus.). figure 87